Shirin no Kami: The Forest of Spirits
by Sueng Xiang
Summary: Syaoran has lost his memory and all those he holds dear. Just when the world is crumbling down upon him, Syaoran finds Sakura, a guardian of the beautiful 'Spirit Forest' and is immediately drawn into her world of spirits, where he finds to love again.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Card Captor Sakura. This story is property of me, Sueng, so if you have any questions about putting it on your site or posting it elsewhere, you may do so with my permission. I will not allow for people to use this story or any of my other stories for benefits of selling. Thank you, on with my fanfic…

Shirin no Kami

Prologue

            Mount Kunlun, a peaceful mountain filled with so much diversity in plants and animal life. Most of the animals that live on Mount Kunlun are those native to forests and mountains, such as goats and deer. The plants on Mount Kunlun are all fruit bearing and some there produce beautiful flowers which catch the morning dew on their leaves, giving a glossy glow to the mountain side, much like what the pristine waterfalls and lakes are their for. Mount Kunlun, a beautiful mountain neglected by almost all of the ancient people of China for its sacredness and legends. 

            However, despite the large number of animal and plant life which inhabit Mount Kunlun, there are human dwellers that live here as well. On this sacred mountain, high scholars and priests come here like hermits, to live in the peacefulness and find enlightment through the mountains many gifts. Taoists, as they are called, have claimed this mountain as one of their most sacred, Mount Kunlun is a mythical landmark that must never be tampered with because these Taoists all live here to meditate and find peace.

            At the highest peak of Mount Kunlun, a tribe of Taoists live here, having a small village protected by the heights of the mountains and the protection of the forests. At this highest peak, this small village trains children when they are young to become enlightened Taoists, and one day, they will hopefully achieve that goal and become immortals so that they may protect nature and its creatures from the destructive forces of man.

            At this highest peak, at this little village, in this mountain, there is a lesson going on today at the plains of Mount Kunlun. Two young little boys, both holding swords, are perspiring and panting from a battle with each other as they are watched on by five old men with long beards and bald heads. The children, both boys, are locked in what seemed to be a practice session while the old men gave them tips on their mistakes as they sword fought. 

            The boy to the right of the five men, has his cheeks bruised and his left sleeve cut, exposing his gashed arm with blood dripping out of the sleeve and staining his arm a deep red. The boy had his eyes focused on his opponent, but his dark black bangs got in the way of his vision. The other boy to the left was holding his sword handle up at his cheek, parallel to the ground and pointing at his training partner. His eyes showed anger and tiredness, while his cheek was slashed right across and his brown chestnut hair flowed in the wind.

            "Alright," the first old man said, "You are both fighting very well; just don't try to kill each other." "Make sure you keep your guard up," the second man said, "If you don't then you guys might kill each other." "You both fight very good," the third man commented, "Just keep this up for one more round and we will determine the winner." Both boys looked at each other, seeing their own reflected images of each other in their eyes; they pivoted their feet to thrust forward, ripping the earth from beneath their feet. 

            As the two boys met in the center, both clashed swords, making a cross with their swords together. They both pushed away and tried to attack again. The brown haired boy swung his sword from down to up, the other boy swung his sword from up to down and the two swords met again. The black haired boy swung his sword around, trying to cut the other boy with a lariat, but the boy ducked the sword and tried to use his sword and stab upwards to get his opponent. As the brown haired boy flew his sword straight up, the black haired boy saw an open chance and swung his sword horizontally in front of him, whacking away the boy's sword.

            The sword twirled in the air a couple of times before finally hitting the ground and making a loud clank. The black haired boy, proud of his victory didn't celebrate; instead, he held a stern face towards his opponent and congratulated his opponent. "Good job, Syaoran!" The five old men rose up from their cross legged positions and stood up as they put their opposite arms into their huge sleeves. "Dai Lan is the winner!" the fourth wise old man said. 

            Feeling disappointment and disgrace, Syaoran knelt down before his training partner and hung his head low. Suddenly, Syaoran's face turned deep dark. "You are becoming quite the warrior young lad," the fifth wise man said to Dai Lan, "You put up a great fight against Syaoran." Dai Lan modestly shook his head, "I am not getting that great, Li still puts up a great fight." Dai Lan smiled and approached Syaoran's body, seeing him in a deep disappointed mood. "Hey Syaoran," Dai Lan said in a sweet voice, "Come on, don't be so disappointed, you put up a great fight and we should train again some other time." 

            Dai Lan put his hand on Syaoran's shoulder, immediately; he felt a shiver down his spine. "Syaoran, are you okay?" Dai Lan began to get scared as the feeling in his spine tingled further, "Syaoran, what's the matter?" Suddenly, Syaoran snapped and yelled with a vicious roar as he punched Dai Lan in the face, breaking his nose. The five wise old men saw this and immediately tried to break up the fight. 

            "Syaoran, Dai Lan, stop this now!" the first wise men said trying to pull Syaoran off of Dai Lan's body. Syaoran, his eyes red and inflamed, elbowed behind him to knock away the old man. The old man stumbled back and the other old men didn't dare stop Syaoran by force. "Syaoran stop this!" said the fourth man. 

            Syaoran wouldn't stop, instead, he continued to pound on his partners face, turning his face from bruised, to bloody and completely mutilation. Syaoran then took his hands and strangled the boy, making him gasp for air. "No this has gone long enough!" the fifth old man and the third both went to remove Syaoran off of Dai Lan. Syaoran tried his best to fight off the two, but he was carried by both arms and couldn't fight back. 

            Anger had gotten the best of Syaoran, his body was shaking uncontrollably and his blood vessels popped out of his temples. He was screaming with that ferocity of a beast! The other old men came to hold Syaoran's feet down as Dai Lan began to recover. Just as the two old men came to hold Syaoran's feet, Syaoran kicked away the two old men in a rage and elbowed the two men grabbing him by the arms.

           Syaoran turned around viciously, his eyes red with anger and his canines showing as he clenched his teeth and roared. Syaoran ran to pick up his sword, as Dai Lan was getting up, Syaoran rushed toward Dai Lan and stabbed the sword right through his stomach. "DDDDIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" he screamed like a beast. Syaoran closed his eyes and tears dropped out of his eyes. As Syaoran opened his eyes again, he changed from angry, to confused. "What…what…what am I doing?" Syaoran asked as he saw his hands stained with blood. 

            Syaoran saw his hands holding onto a sword, "No," Syaoran turned his head up and saw Dai Lan with a bloody mutilated ugly face. "Brother!" Syaoran finally realizing what he had done, screamed, "What have I done?" Syaoran laid his brother down on top of his knees and shook his brother by the shoulders. "Brother, brother, what have I done, what has come to me?" As the old men got up and felt where they were hurt by Syaoran, they meanly stared at Syaoran and restrained his arms and legs and began to carry him away from Dai Lan's body.

            "Brother, no brother!" Syaoran tried to reach for his brother with his hand, but the old men were carrying him away, "BRRRRROOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!!!!!"

            Syaoran looked around him; the whole village surrounded him and looked in horror. Syaoran felt guilt and sadness, he didn't know what was making him kill his brother, but it wasn't him, it was madness. Syaoran hung his head low to cover his face in the shadows; his hands were tied behind his back to prevent him from trying to perform and hostile manners to the five old court members in front of him. 

            "Li Syaoran," the third old man said, "You have violated a rule of Taoism, and that is to kill a living thing." Syaoran hung his head even lower and felt his heart crushed into a million pieces. "Syaoran!" a young girl with reddish brown eyes and long black pigtails cried, "How could you do this Syaoran?" "On top of killing your beloved brother, you have committed a sin, 'anger', one of the sins Lao Tzu said would corrupt the hearts of mankind with a demonic creature." "Syaoran!" the fourth man said, "What do you have to say in your defense?" Syaoran looked at the fourth old man and looked at his surroundings, he was at the village square, where people could all see him, a roasting fire in the middle of the square was the only source of light to see Syaoran and the five wise old men. 

            "Nothing," Syaoran said looking away at the old men, "I have nothing to explain my actions!" The five wise old men were very ashamed to do this, but they knew that Syaoran had committed a sin, and that leaving it untended to would only fill a deeper anger and cause his heart to sin further and lead him to a life of corruption. The old wise men began to stutter as they ordered a man burning a piece of long metal in the fire, "Fuo," the third wise man called, wincing as he commanded, "Remove Li Syaoran's clothes…and…brand him…" The wise men turned away as Fuo, the blacksmith, took the piece of metal out of the fire. On the end of the stick, there was a metal engrave Chinese letter on it which read 'tao'. 

            Fuo approached Syaoran and ripped his clothes off, exposing his skinny boyish body. As Fuo closed his eyes, he quickly pushed the metal on Syaoran's left pectoral and burned the Chinese character on his chest. The burn hissed, like water being put on a hot piece of metal. The villagers turned away hearing the hiss and screams of pain. They smelled the burning flesh of a young ten year old's body. Syaoran screamed even more when he tried to look down at the metal still attached to his skin, boiling it so that little bubbles popped on his skin. 

            Fuo, sickened, removed the piece of metal right when the hissing sound stopped. Syaoran, exhausted, collapsed from the pain he had just endured. "Syaoran," the first wise man said, "It saddens me greatly, that you can not become an immortal any longer." The young girl who had watched Syaoran's painful scene ran in trying to wake Syaoran up. "Syaoran, Syaoran, speak to me!" Syaoran opened his eyes and looked at the girl with tears in his eyes, "Meiling," he cried out with a weak voice, "I can no longer become an immortal, I'm sorry I couldn't make our dreams come true." With that, Syaoran collapsed in Meiling's arms. 

            "No," she cried, then she began to yell at the five men with tears streaking down her eyes, "Syaoran can still become an immortal, can't he?" The second wise man shook his head, "I'm afraid he can't, once he has broken a sin, the sin will eat his heart forever until one day, he shall be forever consumed by the sin and never reach immortal status." Meiling broke out in tears, "Isn't there some way to make him cleansed?" she desperately searched for an answer, "Syaoran has followed you for all his life for the last 10 years, do you not think he can just let all his Taoist training go to waste?" 

            The five men looked at each other and turned back to Meiling, "There is one way that Syaoran can cleanse himself," Meiling lit up with joy, "But it is very unlikely that he might do it." Meiling desperately tried to save his friend, "What is it? How can he become an immortal again?" 

The fifth old man answered back to Meiling, "Tomorrow, Syaoran will leave Mount Kunlun as it is required by law!" Meiling shocked at this answer, shook her head, "No!" she screamed, "I won't let him leave!" "You must!" the first man snapped, "If he doesn't leave then he cannot be cleansed, for it is up to him to go out into the world by himself, and attempt to find enlightment. That is the only way for Syaoran to once again follow the path to immortality, and that is the only way that he can fight his sins. If he cannot find enlightment through his travels, then he shall be consumed by his sins and become nothing more than a corrupt demon."


	2. I am Syaoran Li!

Shirin No Kami

Chapter 1: "I am Syaoran!"

            "Water…"

            "Water is around me everywhere…"

            "This water is like ambience, all surrounding and encompassing me,"

            "Water, where exactly am I, am I dead? No, I am alive, but why can't I open my eyes?"

            It was a bright and sunny day. The sun's rays reflected on the pristine water, like gold had been thrown into the river. The river shined a bright yellow with the sun shining directly upon the peaceful still water. Suddenly, ripples formed around the center of the lake, where a net was thrown off a fisherman's canoe. The fisherman with sweat trickling down his forehead fixed his straw hat over his head to cover the sun's rays from damaging his skin. 

            The fisherman sat back for a while, staring into the clouds as they began to obscure the sun. As the man stared at the obscured heavens, it reminded him the beauty of looking at the shining cottons in the sky, all in their vast obscurity managed to glow with a silver white tint. "Looks like a storms brewing," he said, "Maybe I'll make this the last catch of the day and I will finally go back to the docks." The fisherman lay on his back, his arms serving as his pillow.

            The man was peaceful, dressed in raggedly old ripped clothes; he displayed a face of experience and wisdom. The wrinkles under his eyes showed how old he was, however, he was not too old to the degree to be called grandfather. He was bald, making him look even more like he was going to become an elderly man, but his eyes, they were the only feature that separated him from the elders and the young. His stern patient eyes gave a look of reassurance and youth.

            "At long last, I will finally get some sleep," he said as he began to doze off. Suddenly, his boat rocked as his fish net was being pulled. "Got a bite already!" he excitedly jumped and pulled the rope to the net, "My you're a big one!" he exclaimed as he began to pull with all his effort. The net weighed a lot, more so than what the net could carry at maximum. "I need to keep pulling; this could be the catch of the century!" The man pulled even harder then before and the net finally began to budge. 

            "I got it now!" the man gave one last tug, and the net came dragging into the side of the small canoe, tipping it off balance. "I got it!" the man celebrated, he cut the net open and finally saw what he had caught. A young man, trapped in his net, all unconscious and weak. "Hey, wake up!" he said alarmed as he found out it was a person and not an animal, "Wake up, are you okay?" The man slapped the young man with dark brown hair in order to wake him up. He saw his clothes, his clothes were not from here, they were from the west, he had recognized that his clothes was a traditional Chinese robe with green and brown lining, and it was also made of a cheap material only found in the west. 

            "We've got to get you back into the village," the man told himself quickly bringing out the paddle and rowing, "You might not have time to live if you continue to stay here." The man began to paddle furiously towards a small dock to a village that was surrounded by wilderness. 

            His vision was hazy, but surely, Syaoran could see what was going on. He felt his forehead, burning like a night fire, hotter than any stove could ever make him. He turned his head to the right to see an open roasting fire in the fireplace where a pot was being boiled. As he looked at the lady next to the pot, he began to moan with a weak voice, "Mother…" he called out, "Is my medicine ready yet?" 

            Syaoran was sick; he was wrapped in many layers of fur and cloth that made him perspire. His boyish face and red tint gave away that he was very high in fever. "I'm coming Syaoran!" his mother spoke with such a noble tone in her voice; it was almost powerful and dominating. Syaoran's mother slowly marched towards Syaoran's bed with a bowl in her hand, carefully balancing it so no liquid could spill out. 

           When she had reached Syaoran's bed, she sat down and turned her waist to Syaoran, feeling his forehead. "Syaoran, you are getting hotter," his mother put the bowl up to his lips and began to slowly pour the boiling hot medicine in his mouth, "Drink this so you may recover tomorrow." Syaoran felt the burning sensation in his mouth. It was like his whole mouth wanted to melt off his face, nevertheless, he stood the pain of the burn and continued to swallow, making his throat hurt even more. "Tomorrow Syaoran, you will get better, rest now." Syaoran lied down and closed his eyes, smiling as he drifted off to a recovering sleep.

            The stranger with brown hair slowly opened his eyes. As his eyelid opened, it appeared to be blinding his eyes at first, producing a haze in which he would see a crescent moon light. The stranger felt his forehead was wet with perspiration, and his body was gritty and humid from the steam in the room. The stranger turned his head to see an old lady in the center of the room stirring a pot on top of the fireplace. He didn't know what this scene reminded him of, but surely, he had felt this comfortable before, though he could not recall where. The brown haired stranger opened his eyes halfway and began to speak his first words. 

            "Where am I?" he asked. The old lady turned around and finally revealed her face to the stranger. Her face was old and wrinkly, just how you'd expect an elderly woman to look, complete from head to toe, her hair was tied in a big bun on the top of her head and her body was short and wide. Wearing a long brown robe and hood which she never put over her head, she looked at the stranger with a sweet face and smiled, "You're finally up!" she said in old sweet tone, "I was wondering when you were going to wake up." The stranger sat up on the bed, removing the bed sheets off of his naked body. When he had realized he was not wearing any clothes, he nervously blushed and wrapped the bed sheets around his shoulders. "Don't worry," the old woman said stirring the pot, "You are in my village on Daito Island, we found you in the lake and we brought you in. Your clothes are drying so please wait till we supply you with another change of clothes." 

            The stranger nodded, feeling relieved, he let the bed sheets drop, exposing his body, as he felt very hot. "So stranger," the old woman said, "I am the chief of this village, everyone calls me Granny, but we didn't know what do call you, what's your name?" The stranger stared off into a deep space void trying to remember, when he couldn't, he banged his head trying to force himself to remember. "What is my name?" he asked himself.

            "SYAORAN!!!" a young girl's voice screamed, "Syaoran don't ever forget who you are, don't ever forget your true identity, don't ever forget me…"

           "Syaoran?" the stranger responded, rubbing his fingers through his dark brown hair, "My name is Syaoran." Syaoran, as he was called, was still in confusion, unsure of whom he was. "Syaoran eh?" Granny responded, "That's a strange name, most people who have names like that are people who come from the west, just like the clothes you were wearing." Granny stopped stirring the pot and poured some of the liquid of the pot into a red bowl, the steam rose from the bowl like cold vapor emanating from an ice block. With her patient balance, Granny managed to walk to Syaoran's bedside and hand him the bowl. "This is a medicine; make sure you drink all of it!" Granny passed the bowl to Syaoran as she observed his well built chest and saw a weird character engraved on his chest, as if it was a scar. "That's a strange tattoo you have young man," she said with manners, "I have never seen that character before either."

            Syaoran slowly poured the bowl of hot medicine down his throat, burning his throat like it was sore. When he finished gulping the whole medicine, he handed the bowl back to Granny and tucked himself into bed. "Good night Syaoran," Granny said putting the bedcovers over his body, "Tomorrow we shall see what we can do to make you go back home." Syaoran nodded as Granny blew out the oil lamps. She walked out of the hut with a candle in her hand. "Granny!" Syaoran called as she turned around, "Just who am I, and what am I doing here?" Granny smiled with her wrinkly mouth and sighed, "I don't know," she said, "But we'll try to find out tomorrow, just rest well before you can start moving again." 

            Syaoran looked at the ceiling in darkness, confused and scared what would happen to him. "Just who am I?" he asked himself as he drifted off to sleep.

The next day:

           Syaoran saw new clothes as well as his old clothes right next to him as he woke up. Grabbing the new pair of clothes, he quickly put them on and went outside to try to find someone who might be able to help him. When he reached outside, he saw many huts on one side of the village, and the other side had bigger huts which seemed to be shops and important places to go such as clinics and blacksmiths. Syaoran saw many people up talking and chatting with each other. The moment Syaoran began taking his few steps toward the village square, people began to stare at him and stop talking, creating a silent vacuum where nothing but the chirping of the birds could be heard. 

            "Syaoran!" shouted out a baldheaded man with wrinkles under his eyes. Syaoran turned around to meet a man with ragged clothes and a hat tied behind his back. "So that's your name?" he asked, "I was wondering who you were." Syaoran silently stared at the man blankly, "I'm sorry, but who are you?" Syaoran never felt more confused and embarrassed in his life, the villagers were beginning to stare and his mind was a total blank. "Oh I'm sorry," the man apologized, "My name is Amano and I rescued you from the sea yesterday." Syaoran was not sure what he was talking about. "He saved you just in time," Granny said popping out from behind Amano, "He saved you, you should be grateful." Syaoran coldly ignored Amano and began to desperately seek an answer from Granny. "Granny, you said you would answer my question, who am I? What am I doing here?" 

            Amano butted in and smiled at Syaoran, "That's what I'm here for," Amano interrupted, "I am under orders of Granny to take you back to the sea and show you the whole thing, make sure if you recognize anything familiar." Syaoran nodded, "Okay?" he said disappointed, "But I can barely remember my name, what makes you think I will remember areas?" Granny butted back in to further comfort Syaoran, "I will go outside the village today and ask people if they know you," Granny snapped her fingers, making three rugged men with cloth tied around their heads appear, "These men will help me in my search. We will find out who you are today!" Syaoran nodded, "Thank you everyone…" he trailed off.

            Amano grabbed Syaoran's hand and his net in the other, "Alright Syaoran," he jumped with zeal, "Let's go go go! There are fish waiting to be caught!" Amano dragged Syaoran to the docks, quickly donning his straw hat and jumping into the boat with a powerful entrance. Amano got up and quickly released the sails, allowing for the ship to flow in the wind and sail off into the sun. 

            As the wind grew calmer, the boat finally stopped at a place where the water did not ripple and showed a beautiful reflection of the sun. Amano reached for his net and quickly threw it into the water to catch the fish before they could swim away. Syaoran stared into the sun, trying to remember what had happened to him, and why they found him in the ocean. "If you remember anything tell me," Amano told Syaoran, but Syaoran could not hear as he began to daydream, "Hey you listening? Syaoran?"

            The sun rising in the east as two young boys stare into its golden shine. "I can't believe how we have gotten so much better," said a black haired boy, "you've been training well my brother." Syaoran looked at the black haired boy and gave him a smirk, "You've also been getting better Dailan."

           "SYAORAN!" Amano interrupted, "Syaoran are you okay?" Syaoran, shocked from what he had just remembered, looked into the sea and sulked. "No," he replied, "I still cannot remember, I wish to go to land; maybe Granny has found someone who knows me." Amano nodded reluctantly, "Okay Syaoran," he said, "Let me just catch one more batch of fish and then we'll leave." Syaoran looked at the bottom of the sea, trying to erase his mind. "This is just a bad dream," he told himself.

            Amano took the paddles and threw one over to Syaoran. He pulled the net up, making the net half full with fish. "Wow!" Amano exclaimed, trying to make Syaoran cheer up, "Look Syaoran, we caught a lot of fish, and as a thank you, I'll use these to cook for a banquet." Syaoran nonchalantly rested his face on his palm, "Do whatever you wish," he said coldly. Amano crushed by seeing his fellow man so sad, just shook off Syaoran's coldness and began to paddle back to the dock. Quietness filled the air as Syaoran and Amano paddled the way back without talking to each other. "Syaoran," Amano said trying to start conversation, "Are you sad you cannot remember?" Syaoran coldly stared at him, and Amano quickly stopped trying to start conversation.

            Syaoran felt extreme fear. He was rowing in a boat, with someone he never knew, some place he was unsure about, some area that confused him. He truly didn't know where he was or what he came from, he only gets recurring visions of him and other people he cannot seem to remember. Syaoran even begins to question his identity, is his name really Syaoran? Am I really from the West, as some people have said? Where do I truly come from? What is my mission? These are the questions Syaoran asks himself as he is scared about his life, about who knows him. There are even thoughts in Syaoran's head that he might be dead. 

            "We've arrived on dock," Amano said stopping the boat on the dock and tying the boat to the pole, "Syaoran, do you mind helping me with the fish while I go talk to Granny?" Syaoran, finding he had no choice, decided he would just do it and proceeded to haul the net of fish over to two barrels where he would separate the good fish from the bad ones. For a while, Amano assisted him, but after a while, he saw that Syaoran grew accustomed to it and also Granny was coming back with her full party of searchers, he approached them quietly, trying not to catch Syaoran's attention.

            "How is the search coming?" Amano asked, "Have you found anyone who knows him?" Granny sadly shook her head, "No," she stated, "Has he remembered anything?" Amano shrugged and shook his head, "No!" he replied, "He tried to, but somehow, he couldn't, he never talked on the boat so I don't know what he had to remember." Granny hung her head down thinking, "I see!" she said, "If he cannot remember, then I suppose we can send him back home." Sarcastically, Amano replied, "He doesn't know where home is, where will we send him?" "His clothes he wore and his name sound like they come from the west, from that nation to the west, if we send him there, maybe he can find answers there." Amano thought about it for a while, and finally agreed, "That is a great idea, I think we should hold a banquet for him so that he may at least remember us when he needs help again."

            Granny nodded and agreed, "That is good," she stated, "'Help all travelers and wayward spirits'; that is what my mother wished, and I shall keep her promise." "I'm done!" Syaoran announced as he sat solitary on the barrel. "That's great," Amano replied, "Hey Syaoran." Syaoran turned listening to Amano for the first time, "Listen, we know you can't remember anything, so I thought that maybe we could send you back to the west and you can find some answers there." Syaoran for once didn't give Amano the cold shoulder, instead, he gave give a slight frown and turned to look at the sea, "That wouldn't trouble you for me to leave, would it?" Amano shook his head. Somehow, Syaoran could sense his answer. "Good, I shall get going as soon as you supply me with transportation." Granny interrupted to further tell Syaoran their plan, "Before you go however, we wish for you to join us in a banquet, so that you may never forget our hospitality." Syaoran turned and looked at Granny, her sincere eyes staring into his soul, "You are too nice," he stated, "You shall be repaid in the future."

            Later that night, as the banquet was about to begin, Syaoran sat at one end of the long table, accompanied by Granny and Amano by his sides. In front of everyone in the banquet table, was a fish entrée which came from the catch Amano caught today. Amano stood up before the 15 villagers around the table and held his glass up into the air. "I offer a toast to our beloved stranger friend, Syaoran, who will be leaving us today," everybody claps at Syaoran, Syaoran feels gracious and closes his eyes to accept the applause, "Syaoran, our honored guest, you are welcome back anytime at this village when you feel like it, now let us eat dear friends!" Everyone clapped as they began to dig in and eat the fish with insatiable appetites. Syaoran however, stayed in one spot and looked at his fish with askance. "What's wrong?" Granny asked, "Do you not like fish?"

            Syaoran shook his head, "I don't know," he stated, "Allow me to try…" Syaoran slowly reached for the chopsticks and fixed them into his hand carefully, shaking as he was holding his chopsticks. Trying to control his shaking, he quickly tried to grab for a piece of the fish. He managed to get the fish between the two chopsticks, but his hand shook as he began to draw the fish closer to his lips. Suddenly, Syaoran popped the fish into his mouth, in less than a second; he spit it out across the room, gasping for air. "Are you okay!?" Amano and Granny tended to Syaoran, helping him up as the other villagers got up and tried to see if Syaoran was okay. "I cannot eat fish?" Syaoran questioned himself, "Why can't I?" Granny tried to find a quick recovering and pulled a vegetable entrée from the table. "Syaoran, maybe you like vegetables?" 

            Syaoran sat back down in his chair, everyone relieved that he was ok, sat back down and began to eat. "You cannot leave with an empty stomach," Granny said, "I need to make sure that you eat before your travels." Syaoran looked at the vegetables, afraid that he might spit them out just like the fish. However, this time, he held his chopsticks without shaking and reached for the vegetables and put it in his mouth easily. Chewing the soft green vegetables, Syaoran felt relieved, like the thorn had been removed from his side. "Oh so you like vegetables?" Amano said laughing, "Well that's just great, nobody eats them much anyways." Syaoran chewed down on the vegetables like he had never eaten before.

            "You have been too kind," Syaoran said carrying a pack on his back while next to the dock. "Oh, it was nothing," Granny replied, "You just make sure you are safe on your journeys." Syaoran graciously bowed, "I will thank you-" "Granny!" Amano interrupted running with haste, "Those landlords, they're back again, they want to talk to you!" Granny widened her eyes almost scared. "Okay, tell them I'll be right there, let me just wish our traveler goodbye!" "Do you need help?" Syaoran offered with a concerned tone. "No, thank you though, I can handle this," Granny hugged Syaoran and gave him a sweet innocent kiss on his cheek, "Don't be a stranger, stranger!" Syaoran nodded to confirm and walked to the docks, slowly untying the boat.

            "Granny hurry," Amano warned, "they gathered all the villagers and now he's demanding them to surrender the land." Granny gave a mean face ahead of herself, "We'll see about that!" she said as she came to the village square where they had gathered all the villagers and began to harass them. "What you won't give me your crappy house?" a man with a club yelled, "Then die!" Just when he was about to hit a young girl in her teens, Granny yelled out and stopped the man. "What are you doing?" she yelled out, "This village is under safety of the last emperor, stay away from these lands." The man with the club approached Granny, "You have lived on these lands long enough old woman. Our rich leader has offered you many pounds of gold and you decline, if we cannot receive this land legally, we will steal it from you." Granny began to feel fear as she felt their dark intentions. "Please this land is ours, leave now!"

            "We also know you people have the secret that is needed to get to Spirit Forest, tell us now and we will leave you people in peace." Amano snapped trying to defend his village, "Spirit Forest is a haven for the spirits which dwell our very world, we will never reveal the location of that island." Granny agreed, "You may not take this land, you may not take our secret, if you wish so much, then we will die before these things which hold so dear to us." The man with the club snapped his fingers as 9 other men took out clubs and sticks and flint axes. "Well men, you heard what she said," the leader commanded, "Kill all the villagers, but lets start with the old lady!" Granny alarmed, stumbled back and tripped on her own two feet, the fear in her eyes showed a reflection of the man ready to smash her skull in.

            The man swung the club down, but suddenly, a young man blocks the club from going any farther with his forearm. "Picking on old ladies are we?" The young man grabs the club and disarms the man, whacking him with his own club. The other 9 men see their leader knocked down and come to his rescue, the first one rushes in recklessly and gets hit in the stomach by the club. Then the young man hits the man in the back of the head, making him flip over. Another man rushes in and tries to whack the young man with his long stick over the head, but the young man puts the club up to block this attack and kicks him in the stomach to send him flying. Two men come rushing in to the young man, but he quickly steps aside and bumps the two heads of the men into each other, knocking them out unconscious. 

            Another man came running to attack the young man with his stone axe, he missed his mark, and then the young man took advantage by kicking him in the face. The other men looked at their fallen comrades and ran for the hills. The boss and the other injured thugs got up and ran too. "This isn't over!" the boss said running away in pain, "I'll be back!" The young man walked into the light so that the villagers could see who he was. "It's you!" Amano shouted happily, "It's Syaoran, what an incredible fighter!" The whole village began to chat amongst themselves and comment on how Syaoran was very good, Syaoran slowly approached Granny and fell on his knees. "I am unsure of who I am," he begged, "I do not know who or what I am or where I'm from." Syaoran began to have tears streak down his face, "I'm alone and I can't find my way around, I want to live here, amongst you fellow villagers, so I can find who I am slowly day by day." Syaoran began to cry as he was so scared and confused what he was doing and who he was. Granny simply smiled and got back up on her feet. Approaching Syaoran, she put her hand on his shoulder and stroked his hair, "Now now," she comforted, "You are lost and confused; you can be a part of our village." 

            Graciously touched, Syaoran bowed down thanked her, "Just who am I?" he asked himself quietly. Granny heard his silence and responded with comforting words, "You are Syaoran!"


	3. Leaving New Home

Shirin No Kami

Chapter 2: Leaving New Home

            The fish were swimming wildly around the ocean, turning the serene water into ripples that would reverberate throughout the whole lake. Unknown, the fish were swimming all around, trying to dodge something. Then something came into view…

            Syaoran threw the net into the water catching all the fish below it. Syaoran took the other end of his fishing net and pulled it up, pulling a colossal amount of fish inside the sack. Syaoran in his peasant sweat drenched clothes pulled in the fishing net with ease. Releasing the net, Syaoran let the fish jump wildly on the boat until they all died out from not being in the water. Syaoran took off his long straw hat and tied it around his neck, picking up the fish on the boat and putting it into a bucket.

            "My you've been getting better at that!" a voice called behind Syaoran. He turned his head around and began to talk to the man with his wrinkled brow and healthy face. "Amano," Syaoran said with a smirk, "You know you can catch fish just as well as I can, you're just out of practice old man!" Amano smiled at the statement "old man". "Oh man," he said with a rough joking voice, "I should have left you in the ocean when we met. Now I have to face complete humiliation from you taking my title as best fisherman." 

            Syaoran gave a hearty grunt, "It's only been a year Amano," Syaoran put the rest of the fish in the bucket, "And you let me take your title? My, how embarassing!" Amano got up from his recumbent position and began to stretch his arms and legs from lying down on the boat so long. "Maybe I'm getting too old for this!" Amano joked as he cracked his back. Syaoran gave a slight smirk on his face, "Maybe so old man…"

            "Hey what's that suppo-" Amano's sentence was cut off by the crashing of thunder in the sky, "My looks like a storms a brewing." Syaoran gazed into the sky, the dark grey clouds overshadowing their boat. "Quickly," Syaoran said putting the rest of the fish back into the boat, "Let's hurry before it rains." Amano quickly grabbed his oar and began to row backwards. Syaoran quickly took his oar and rowed with him backwards.

            Granny looked outside the window, streaming with tiny rivers on the glass. The tiny streams of water spread on the glass like a network of spider web. Her wise sage-like eyes stared out the rain, reflecting her image back onto her. Granny had her hands behind her back. Her shoulders dropped down as the rain continued to pour and she started to relax. 

            "Do I want to tell him?" Granny asked herself, "I must tell him, he must go back home." Granny went to her table, where neatly green folded clothes sat. The center of the whole shirt had a large circle and in the center had a Chinese character on it which stood for "tao". On the sleeves, on sleeve said the character "sui", and the other sleeve had the character "lang". Granny frowned as she sipped her tea on the table. 

            "After a year," Granny said, "We finally have a clue of where he comes from…"

            Syaoran and Amano had just made it back to the docks as the first drizzling water touched their skin. Immediately, Syaoran and Amano both took their big straw hats and tied it under their chin and over their head. "Come on," Syaoran said picking up the bucket of fish, "Let's go back to the main hut, we have to store these fish in the granaries." Amano took the other end of the bucket and hauled it together with Syaoran. "Let's go!" he said putting his hand over the bucket of fish. 

            They ran together, like a three legged race, except they ran at the same pace. "Quickly the rain is getting harder." Light drizzle became harsh drops of water that poured down on them. Syaoran looked hard with the rain continuing to get harder, the rain dropping obscured their vision of what they saw up ahead. Suddenly, Syaoran begins to sense something nearby and reflexively points ahead. "There," he said, "There's the main hut, let's go. Maybe Granny can also watch over us a bit until this rain clears up." 

            Amano searched around, looking for the main hut as the rain started to pour faster. "Where is the hut, I can't see it Syaoran!?" Syaoran put a shade over his eyes, trying to block the rain from hitting his eyelids. "Just stick your hand out," Syaoran commanded, "Stick your hand out and turn. You should get the doorknob." Amano gave a slight perplexed look at Syaoran right beside him, "How do you-" Suddenly, Amano slammed his right shoulder into the door. He stumbled back and fell on a puddle. "I told you!" said Syaoran. Helping Amano up, Syaoran turned the doorknob which he felt for in front of him and quickly opened the door. He pushed Amano in and proceeded after him.

            "Whew!" Syaoran panted, "That was close." Amano nodded and clutched his right shoulder. The pain was unbearable and Amano began to seethe through his teeth. Worriedly, Syaoran knelt beside him. "Are you alright Amano?" Syaoran asked. Amano tried to hold in the pain and got back up, standing tall with his shoulders upright. "Thank you Syaoran," Amano said twirling his shoulder around his socket, "I'm fine, let's go on and stay with Granny 'till the rain passes." Syaoran nodded, focusing on Amano's arm, "You sure you ok?" Syaoran asked again. "I'll be fine!" Syaoran gazed at Amano's bald head and saw him turning around and walking ahead into Granny's room. 

            Rain poured, thunder clashed, the sky shook with a terrible roar. The dark clouds shadowing the village were also shadowed by four silhouettes of men on horses, in the formation of a diamond (two men on the sides, one in the front, one in the back). They were out in the forest, slowly approaching the village with small huts for each person to live in and the one big hut for the village elder. The four men on horses all wore something covering their mouths and a straw hat covering their head. The overcoats they wore made out of deerskin that protected them from the rain. 

            The slow rhythm of the horses' hooves echoed on the fallow ground. Then, the man behind the formation spoke his first words, having his speech muffled by the cover over his mouth. "So boss, what are we going to do after we get this land?" The man in the front marched on, having his eyes squint angrily, "This is my land," he said with a raspy voice, "I own this land and if they don't give it to me, they deserve to die." The two men on the sides holstered rifles on their backs, covered with paper to protect the gunpowder from getting wet. 

            "But Lord Bukai," asked one man, "What shall we do with the villagers? You don't expect us to kill them do you?" Lord Bukai looked behind him, seeing the cowardice in the man. "Whatever it takes to get this land. They have already violated staying there and I have let it pass, my men couldn't retrieve it last year. If you want something done, do it yourself."

            Lighting flashed, the window reflected with this blue ray of light right through the window of Granny's residence. Amano and Syaoran both sat around the table while Granny was sipping her tea. "Granny," Amano said, "Is something the matter?" Granny poured the teacup down and drank every last drop. "Syaoran," Granny began to say.

            The prescence around the room reflected the mood at the current moment, mysterious and dark. Syaoran and Amano both stared at Granny's wise eyes and listened on to what she had to say. "Is something wrong, Granny?" Granny didn't say a word. Instead, she took out a rectangular box from below the table and placed it on the top of the table. 

"Syaoran," she began to say, "You must leave this village." Syaoran and Amano were both shocked. "Why?" Syaoran asked. "Yes why?" Amano repeated, thinking he didn't hear correctly. Granny only slid the box toward the two. Syaoran stared at the box questionably, "Should I open it?" he confirmed with Granny. Granny nodded. Slowly, Syaoran placed both his hands on the side of the box, carefully pulling the cover off of the box. 

Syaoran felt something soft, saw something green and fabric-like. Suddenly, he finally realized when he saw the "tao" character on the center of the fabric. "This…this is…" Granny nodded, confirming Syaoran's thoughts. "That's the same character you have marked on your chest," Granny stated, "Those clothes were found in a village not too far from here." Syaoran pulled out the clothes and unfolded it, letting it spread out and drop to the floor. "These clothes aren't mine," he denied, "Just because it bears the same character as my chest, does not mean these are mine." 

Amano looked in awe, he didn't know how to feel now. Should he feel happy that there is some clue for Syaoran to get back home, or should he feel disappointed that his friend was leaving the village? "Syaoran," he said, stuttering, "I don't know what to say, I guess you can finally return home now." "NO!" Syaoran snapped, "This is my home, this is where I belong!" Granny got off of the floor and put her soft wrinkled hand on his cheek, trying to reassure him. "Syaoran, you  must return home," Granny said.

"No," Syaoran denied, "This is my home, you are all my family." Amano and Granny were touched by this gratitude Syaoran felt, but knowing that he had a family somewhere out there waiting for him made them deny their true feelings. Amano sadly patted Syaoran on the shoulder for comfort. "Don't worry," Amano said, "You will always be family here, just go!" Syaoran couldn't believe what he was hearing. 

"Granny?" Syaoran asked, "Do you wish for me to leave as well?" Granny nodded, "I want what's best for you Syaoran, I want you to return home and see your family again so you may remember who you are." Syaoran began to frown, "So this means, I'll never see you guys again." 

"Nonsense," Amano snapped, "You will always see us whenever you wish. But if you don't see your family now, you may never ever remember them, and that will not only hurt you, but your family as well." Amano looked outside and began to see the rain dying down, "It seems that I must leave, I will go prepare your boat so that you may leave as soon as possible." Amano left the room.

Now it was Syaoran and Granny, alone and in the same room. Syaoran looked at the ground, seeing his dark shadow and Granny's shadow approaching him. Granny placed her hand on Syaoran's shoulder and picked his head up. "Syaoran," she said, "You have been a great help and have allowed me to fulfill my mother's last dying wish to help wayward spirits. I thank you!" Syaoran humbly nodded as Granny went to go get something inside her drawer. From her drawer, she pulled out a shell tied to a string and placed it inside Syaoran's hand. "This is a talisman that should keep you safe," she said, "There is a town not far from here where I found your clothes. Please go there and ask questions like where they found your clothes and maybe you can one day find out who you truly are."

Granny gave one last hug, Syaoran reluctantly hugged back. "Whatever you do from here, promise not to look back." Syaoran lightly feeling Granny's cozy frail body nodded in agreement, "I promise Granny," he said having a tear drop out of his eye, "I promise."

Amano burst into the room, frantic and desperate. "Granny!" he exclaimed, "They've come back, the landlord has come back! And this time he is killing the innocent villagers!" Syaoran snapped his eyes open and bravely stepped forward, "Them again, but I-" Syaoran was interrupted by Granny holding him back from going outside. "From here on Syaoran, you will no longer be a part of this village. Therefore you must go." Syaoran hesitantly worried and looked at Amano giving him a reassuring nod. "We will be alright. You must leave before they find you and kill you too." Amano's white eyebrows crunched together displaying angriness. "We will handle them, just go Syaoran." 

Syaoran saw Granny and Amano about to leave the room to meet their fate and he could do nothing but watch them throw their life away. "Whatever you do now Syaoran, do not look back. Just go to the docks and take the boat out of here." Syaoran nodded while seeing Granny and Amano leave. Then after waiting a little while longer, Syaoran opened a secret passage through the South wall and escaped from the back.

"Burn the houses!" the man on the horse said as he took his torch and threw it on the top of a straw roofed house, "Leave no survivors this time." "Yahhhh!" a middle aged man with bald head and white eyebrows ran with his pitchfork over his head, ready to take off the man on the horse. "Get out of our village!" Suddenly, as the man got closer to the masked stranger on the horse, his right shoulder shot out with pain and made him drop the pitchfork. "My arm!" he shouted clutching on his arm to ease the pain.

"Shoot him!" the masked man commanded as two men who took out their rifles and shot the man. Amano, the man who was trying so bravely to defend his village, met an unfortunate fate when one bullet drove itself right through his right shoulder, amputating it and the other bullet hit him square in the forehead. 

"Amano…" Granny sadly moaned as she looked at the man on the horse. "So you are the village chief," the masked man on the horse said, "This land now belongs to me, I will allow you to give up this land to me without any problems while I let your people escape. If you oppose me, then this land shall be taken by force." Granny silently closed her eyes and prepared to meet her fate, "This is my home of my anscestors," she stated, "My spirit shall die with my home."

Syaoran tried to escape, the burning houses and burning corpses were scattered throughout. Syaoran could no longer find his way to the docks. "I need to escape quickly, before I-" Suddenly, Syaoran approached the village square where he saw Granny's lifeless body laid out flat and the two gunmen still pointing their rifles at her. Syaoran began to feel despair within him. "There's a survivor!" shouted the other gunman as he took a shot at Syaoran. Syaoran quickly dodged the bullet and tried to make his way through the tight spots of burning huts. "I have to escape, I have to find the docks, I have to-" "He's over here!" shouted a man standing next top the docks. The man ran up to Syaoran, trying to pin him down. But Syaoran quickly dodged him and kicked him in the stomach. 

Syaoran saw his boat. Hastily he jumped in and cut the string which tied it to the dock. "My home, destroyed," he said sadly as he rowed away. "Don't let him get away!" shouted the two gunmen shooting at his boat. Syaoran tried to row faster away from the burning smoke of the village. The bullets hit the top of the water like rocks failing to skip across. The leader took one of the rifles of the gunmen, "You guys are terrible shots, this is how it's done!"

BLAM!

Syaoran's boat broke an open hole right behind him. "What the?" he shouted as he tried to cover up the hole seeping with water. "What am I going to do?" Syaoran's boat began to sink deeper and deeper, slowly bringing his boat deeper into the depth of the pristine calm waters. But suddenly out of nowhere, a current ripped away the boat and Syaoran no longer had control. Syaoran's clothes which were attached to the side of the boat began to get pulled away from the current. "My clothes!" he shouted in desperation as he dove off the boat and reaching for his clothes in the current. 

Syaoran's boat sunk, and from the distance. The men saw the single canoe sink into the depths of the currents. "Nobody can survive those currents," said the leader, "And even if he does survive, what might he do to get back onto dry land?" The leader turned around and placed a flag with his insignia on it. "This land is now under my control. Send all the labor workers here so that the emperor may get a great harvest. Put the dead bodies into the ocean where all the evidence will disappear." The two gunmen and the last man bowed down and split in different directions to carry about their assigned tasks. 

"Alas," the leader said taking off his face cover, revealing a scar upon his left cheek. "This land is now mine.

Syaoran stroked furiously trying to get his clothes back from the current. As his clothes continued to drift away into the torrential abyss, he stroked faster trying to get his clothes back. "Got them!" Syaoran stopped stroking as he finally caught his clothes in his arm. Suddenly, the current got strong and Syaoran was pulled under the waters where he could not see anything because the water was rushing into his face. 

Syaoran tried to swim back up but their was a current above him holding him down. "Am I done?" Syaoran thought weakly, "This is how I will die?" Syaoran gave up swimming and began to close his eyes as he was in deep water. Darkness approached Syaoran and grasped him by the hand taking him into death slowly.


	4. The Haven of the Spirits

Shirin No Kami

Chapter 3: Haven for the Spirits

            A serene forest, undisturbed and glittering with the bright daylight of the sunshine. The trees all stand tall with growing moss on the trunks. This serene forest is surrounded by the beautiful pristine waters which make this forest healthy and undisturbed. It seems that nobody lives in this harmonic forest. This forest, when viewed from above, is protected by mountains, forests, and lakes. The animals within this forest live in peace without the fear of humans coming to take their home away from them.

            Suddenly, a light humming noise is heard throughout the quiet chirping of the birds, and footsteps crushing the soft grass below echoed. A young woman, auburn hair streaks and a big smile on her face interrupted the harmony of the forest creatures singing. She was wearing a long brown skirt, slit on the side, with a sleeveless white shirt that showed a bit of her belly. She wore a brown vest around her sleeveless shirt and her hair donned flowers holding her hair in different places.

            She hummed a tune of bliss, a rhapsody that made the forest soothed and sustained. As she walked by the many creatures which inhabited the forest, they all seemed to feel her kindness and tenderness and didn't attack her. Even the most ferocious of beasts such as the foxes and wolves hid inside their caves and continued to sleep despite smelling her warm flowery scent. Beside the young woman was a transparent body, emitting a pink tint around her body. She looked like a little girl with curls and frills in her hair, and wearing a dress which resembled flower petals.

            She seemed to be following the young woman because she was carrying a basket full of flowers which gave light glitter as she walked past the forest. "Today is very calm," the girl said, "What do you think Hua?" The pink girl beside her nodded her head. "It's a perfect day for collecting flowers," said the girl, "Nothing seems to be wrong today…" Suddenly, the girl heard a loud splash and thump. 

            "What was that?" asked the girl, putting down her basket of flowers and running away. The pink aura girl who followed the auburn haired girl disappeared into the air. The girl ran, trying to follow the sound of the large splash and thump. As she passed by the trees, she greeted imaginary transparent bodies who faded in when she ran past their site. Running past the trees, she saw many transparent green bodied girls appearing and greeting her and pointing the way where the sound was. 

            The birds chirped in the trees, accompanied by white little bodies emitted the sound of chirping. The girl finally saw something in view, she ran faster, stopping when she was close to the man's head. She knelt down, seeing his chestnut brown hair and tattered peasant clothes, she turned him around so she could see his face. "A human coming from the river?" she asked. His eyes were closed, but in his hands he had two different objects that he kept his grip on. 

            On his left hand, there was a change of green clothes. On his right hand, there was a shell tied to a string, emitting a white glow. The girl looked at the shell and strangely stared at it. "This human came from the river, he landed here, but how?" She felt his forehead to see if he was sick. She closed her eyes and put both her hands on his cheeks, feeling for something. "He's good," she said to herself, "He will be alright." The girl took his clothes and the shell out of his hands. She put the shell over her neck like a necklace to hold it there, and she took his clothes and set them aside in the grass. 

            Taking his arm, she tried to lift him up and help him on his feet. "Boy, you're heavy!" she grunted trying to pick him up. Suddenly, out of the ground, popped out a little girl with long pigtails who emitted a pink aura; smiling, she ran into the auburn haired girl's body, emitting her with a light pink glow. "Thank you Chikara," she stated, "Now the only thing left is to explain this to Kero-chan and Yue-san." 

            Darkness grabbed Syaoran by the hand, tugging him deeper into the dark waters. "I must survive," thought Syaoran, "I can't die, not like this." Syaoran was pulled in deeper into the dark murky waters. Suddenly, his hand started to glow with a white light. His eyes were closed and couldn't see what he was doing. But somehow, his body began to feel lighter than air and floated up into the sky. 

            Syaoran gasped for air as he reached the surface, the current continued to pull him closer into a dark abyss. "I cannot die," he said, "I need to swim back to shore!" Syaoran stroked with what he felt was the right way to go, but suddenly, the wind blew him off course. "No!" Syaoran shouted, "I must…swim…back…" Syaoran fell asleep as he passed out floating on the water.

            "Am I dead?" Syaoran asked himself as he envisioned his body shrouded in darkness, "Did the torrential waters take my life?" Syaoran with his eyes still closed imagined himself getting up out of the darkness. "Only one way to find out…" Syaoran opened his eyes and was met by a blinding light which woke him up.

            Syaoran bolted out of his deep slumber, reaching for the roof of the log cabin he was in. Syaoran looked around, sweating from the near death experience he had just witnessed. Syaoran put his head over his palm, trying to think deeply about the event that occurred until now. "Where am I?" he thought as he looked around the log cabin he was in. 

            Syaoran was in a bed, covered by a thick animal skin blanket that kept him warm. He had been stripped out of all his old peasant clothes, and his body was white from soaking all the salt water in the ocean. "How did I swim back to shore?" he asked himself, "I could have sworn that I would have drowned out there. How did I get back to shore, much more how did I end up back here?" Syaoran got out of bed, covering his lower part with the blanket and walking to a table where flowers were in a vase. "Was I dreaming this? Did Granny and Amano die? Is the village burned?"

            Syaoran looked out the window of the log cabin; the glass was clean and provided an excellent view to the outside. He looked out the window and saw trees and beautiful grass everywhere. He looked above the trees, but sunlight was blocked out by the canopy. Ahead of the view was a big pristine pool, shining like crystals had been thrown into it. 

            "You're awake?" a voice said behind Syaoran. Syaoran quickly turned around and looked at the person who had just entered the door. Immediately, Syaoran's eyes were stolen from her beauty. Her auburn hair, her emerald eyes, her pouty cheeks, and her small mouth. Syaoran turned around fully, holding up the blanket covering his bottom and was trapped in total awe by her beauty. The girl in response blushed as he continued to stare. The girl not only blushed because he was blushing, but because she also thought that the boy who was standing right in front of her was incredibly handsome.

            "Ummmm…" she said trying to remain calm, "I…errr…." The girl's heart was pumping so fast, faster than anything she's ever felt before. Syaoran's heart was pumping fast as well, but at least he managed to respond to her. "My name is Syaoran!" he said as quickly and harmlessly as possible. The girl began to get woozy from continuing to stare at him and she silently turned around and tried to reply back. "I'm Sakura," she said stuttering, "May you please wear some clothes, your stick is showing!" Syaoran looked at the back of her head, wondering what she meant by, "your stick is showing"? 

            Syaoran looked down and panicked, "S-s-s-sorry!" he said embarrassed. Sakura kept cool and tried not to stare anymore, "That's ok!" She said as she waited for Syaoran to get dressed. Syaoran paced back and forth while holding the towel in its place and looking for his clothes. "They are on the chair," Sakura responded as she sensed he could not find them. "Yes thank you!" Syaoran replied. As Syaoran searched around frantically for his clothes, Sakura gave a light smile.

            Syaoran and Sakura sat across from each other on the rug which lay on the floor. Syaoran, wearing a new set of clothes, similar to a robe, crossed his legs, looking down into his lap. Sakura worriedly examined his sad face, seeing him in despair. "You are not from around here, I presume," Sakura turned around and slid a dish with a root on it, "You must be hungry, this is tarot root, it's the only thing we have that might be edible for you." Syaoran shot his head up at Sakura and fixated his gaze after snapping out of his trance. "Oh thank you," he replied, "Thank you so much." 

            Sakura's appearance and etiquette contrasted Syaoran's. Syaoran wearing a nice looking blue with white trim robe and sitting in a steady cross legged Indian stance was very different from Sakura's wild nature girl image and her hugging her knees close to her chest. "Where are you from?" she asked worriedly, "Are you alone? Do you have people to care for you?" Syaoran began to lightly chew on the tarot root, feeling the bitter saliva in his mouth collecting to neutralizing the sour taste. Syaoran however, was used to eating even more bitter foods, so this was actually good to his taste buds. "No!" he replied, "I don't know who my family is, much less, where I am from." 

            Sakura felt sympathy for Syaoran and got up from the ground. She approached Syaoran who was looking up and seeing her approach him with a hand held out. "Do you wish to follow me?" Syaoran looked up seeing her welcoming pretty face, "I am going to inspect the forest before night falls. Do you wish to accompany me and we'll talk more about home?" Syaoran finished the rest of his root and took her hand, "Sure." The warm feeling of her hand gave Syaoran the bit of comfort that everything would be alright. Sakura snugly put her hand and wrapped it around her doorknob. But coincidentally, another hand from the other side turned it one second sooner and slowly opened the door. Sakura frantically looked around the room for something. "Quick hide!" as she threw Syaoran aside and picked up a blanket and threw it over him. The door opened all the way as Sakura was fixing the blanket over Syaoran, making probably the most obvious attempt to hide a human shaped object. 

            Slowly, the person (or thing) opening the door got on all fours after stumbling to push the door open. "Sakura!" a yellow-colored lion with wings appeared at the door, "I'm back and...what are you doing?" Sakura put her hands behind her back and nervously giggled. "Oh Kero-chan, your back," she replied, "Did it really take you that fast to monitor things before sunset?" Kero, the lion-like creature, stood on his two hind legs and began to brag. "Well Sakura, you know I am the spirit of the sun. Without me, there could be no sunset or sunrise. And even though I spent all my life with Yue raising you as one of my own, don't you think that I have gotten any slower." Kero bragged on and on with his eyes closed, "Am I not the coolest spirit of the sun there is?" Sakura whispered something in thin air and allowed Kero's keen sense of hearing to pick it up. "Sakura, who are you talking to?" Sakura nervously turned her face to face him again, "Heh heh it's nothing!" she replied.

            "You're hiding something," Kero said suspiciously, "And I bet I know what it is." Sakura began to sweat profusely in the forehead, "Please don't find out, please don't find out!" "You're hiding that special tea aren't you? I can smell the flowers from here." Kero picked his head up and started to sniff the air, "Ahhhh, those special flowers you picked with the flower spirit, and that faint scent of human aroma." Kero suddenly realized it, "Human aroma!? Sakura, WHAT ARE YOU HIDING!?" Sakura frantically tried to fumble for an answer, "You see, the human aroma comes from me, and I'm not hiding anything!" Kero gave a perplexed look at Sakura, "First of all you don't smell like a human, that's why you wear the flower to cover your scent. Second of all, even so if you smelled like a human, you wouldn't eat tarot root because you know that gives you gas problems." Syaoran immediately turned red under the blanket. "Last of all, I see that obvious attempt to hide something behind you, NOW STEP ASIDE!" Kero ran towards her in full speed. Sakura automatically dodged him to avoid the full brunt of the attack. Kero got his teeth to grab the sheets and uncovered Syaoran turning red from the tarot root. "Aha! I was right, a human!"

            Kero angrily gave a vicious roar and clenched his teeth to show Syaoran his pearly whites. Syaoran quickly ducked for cover before he could get mauled by a ferocious lion. In a sense, he was protecting his young which was Sakura. "Stop it now Kero-chan!" Sakura grabbed Kero by the tail before he could bite off a chunk of Syaoran's hair, "Stop it now Kero-chan, he's ok!" Kero turned around showing his teeth to Sakura, "How could you Sakura!" Kero yelled, "You know humans are forbidden in 'Spirit Forest'." Sakura twiddled her thumbs a bit before answering Kero, "I know but…" Sakura began to kick her feet lightly on the ground before she started to slowly tear up, "…but he landed on the stream right next to the bank. And….and…" Sakura wailed as two fake streams of water ran along her cheeks. Kero gave a sigh of embarrassment and put his paw over his eyes. "Aw geez…" Kero said, "…you know I can't stand you and your puppy dog attempts." Sakura slowly sniffed her sadness away, "So you won't kill him?" Sakura asked. Kero gave another sigh, "No…" Kero replied, and almost instantaneously, Sakura cheered for joy, "BUT! If you harm 'Spirit Forest' or tell anyone of this place, I will kill you!" Syaoran nodded, "Understood!"

            Suddenly, another illuminating figure appeared at the doorway with a peeved look on his face. His silver shining hair and white clothes reflected off the moon and into the room. "A HUMAN!? HERE!?" The man magically produced a bow and with the single motion of his arm pulling back, he created an arrow, poised and ready to strike at its target. "No don't!" Kero jumped at his arm and knocked the man down. The arrow shot out of his bow and bounced off the walls of the cabin before stopping centimeters before Syaoran's face. Sakura held down the illuminating man. "Yue-san!" Sakura begged, "Please this man is not our enemy, let him stay for a while." Yue tried to break out of the pin put by both Kero and Sakura. "Lemme go guys!" he struggled, "No man is allowed into 'Spirit Forest' territory, NO MAN!" Kero roared while on top of Yue, "Listen, I don't like it as much as you but he hasn't provoked the forest or Sakura, our laws forbid us to kill him." Yue struggled some more, this time lifting Sakura and Kero a little bit off of him, "I don't care, his people, they killed my brethren they all deserve to die!" "But does that mean you have to stoop to that level?" Sakura reasoned and Yue stopped struggling. "Ok," he accepted, "but first I need to ask him a few questions, so please get off of me." 

            Sakura and Kero slowly got off of Yue. "You human don't deserve to be passed judgment by me, so you will speak to my lesser known half." Yue's wings wrapped around his body, Syaoran marveled at how the room immediately turned into daylight as soon as the wings began to glow a bright white light. Slowly, Yue unwrapped himself of his wings and his form changed from a long haired stern looking man, to a short-haired spectacle-wearing man. "I am Yukito!" he gave a smile, "I know you aren't going to mean us any harm, but my other half Yue is very worried about your intentions. So please tell me, what are your motives for entering 'Spirit Forest'?" Syaoran tried to deeply think about his answer to the question, but had none to give him. Yukito patiently asked again, "Please I want to know why you so eagerly searched for this land." "I have no reason," he replied as he looked to his side, "I didn't want to come here at all. I somehow cheated death and landed on your banks, I had no intention of arriving here in the first place." Sakura worriedly gave him a stare and asked out of curiosity, "Then why Syaoran-kun? Why go without a destination in mind?" Syaoran sat down on the bed and began to explain his story to all the people in the cabin.

            "One year ago, I was rescued by people who lived on an island not to far from here called Daito Island. It was here that I befriended the villagers; they took me in as one of their own. For one year, I lived among them, only to find out that the village chief soon gave me a clue to where I originate from, but it would require me to leave them forever." Syaoran took a break as his eyes began to swell with tears, "But as I was leaving, greedy landlords wished to take the island, they imprisoned some villagers and killed my two trusted friends among the village. I managed to leave just barely, but I assume that they shot my boat and I almost drowned until I landed upon your banks. That is my story." Sakura sadly hung her head low, Kero looked away wincing at the images of his experiences, and Yukito gave a sad face. "That's terrible!" Yukito said, "But coming to 'Spirit Forest' is not an easy task, the only way you could have entered the forest is either if you were a wayward spirit or received a pendant from the--" "Is this what you are referring to?" Syaoran stuck his hand out and showed him the shell necklace in his hands, "Granny, the village chief gave this to me before my departure, she stated that it would save me, and I assume that's what it did."

            Yukito magically gained his wings again and wrapped them around himself. The room once again gave a luminous glow as he transformed into Yue. "Your story is well told stranger," Yue replied, "But even so, how can I truly believe your tale?" Sakura put her hand on Yue's shoulder and defended Syaoran. "I know," Sakura replied, "Before I brought Syaoran-kun in, I made she his mind was good, but…" "But what!?" Yue frantically asked. "But…his mind was filled with confusion and disarray, even if we don't know if his intentions are good, we already know they aren't bad." "Hmmm…" Yue replied as he gave Syaoran a merciless look, "The only thing you are wrong about Daito Island is that it has been completely taken over." Syaoran shot his head up, "What!?" "Daito Island, none of the native survivors are there any longer, they have made friends with the earth." "How do you know that?" Syaoran bolted up as he clenched his fist, "It can't be. Daito Island is…" "That's right!" Kero replied, "It's not Daito Island anymore." Syaoran solemnly walked to the window looking out. "How do you know this?" "The 'Spirit Tree' told them!" "Sakura!!!" Yue yelled at her to shut her up, "Never tell any strangers of the 'Spirit Tree'."

           "What is this 'Spirit Tree'?" Syaoran asked. Yue turned around not intending to answer the question. Instead, Kero blurted his mouth, "The 'Spirit Tree' is the mother of all trees, she connects through the other forests and her roots spread out to hear of news from spirits and nature from all around the world.  The 'Spirit Tree' is said to be the protector of the spirits in this world, no tree, no spirits, no life!" Syaoran's fist was shaking, impatient to make a request that would not be accepted, "Then, if this 'Spirit Tree' knows so much, then take me to see her, if I speak with her, maybe she can tell me where I originate from. Only knowing the truth about me will put the spirits of my dead friends at ease." For a moment, there was utter silence, "Well!" Syaoran yelled, "Take me to the 'Spirit Tree' please. I need to know…" Syaoran hung his head down expecting someone to give a damn. But Yue coldly gave his authoritive answer, "Sakura," he commanded as she stepped up to listen to what he had to say, "Take the stranger away to the town over the mountains." "Is that where the 'Spirit Tree' is?" he asked. "NO!" Yue quickly responded, "You have no right to see the 'Spirit Tree' with your petty problems. If you wish to seek out who you are, find out in the next town and never return here again."

            "Why Yue-san?" Sakura snapped, "Why can't Syaoran-kun see mother?" Syaoran turned his head almost instantly, "Mother?" Yue began to walk out of the door with Kero, ignoring Sakura's request. "I want the human out of 'Spirit Forest' by tomorrow, that is an order," Yue turned around to give his last parting words to Syaoran, "Well stranger, welcome to the forests of spirits. Welcome to 'Shirin no Kami,' and good-bye."


	5. Troubled Stranger

Shirin no Kami

Chapter 4: Troubled Stranger

            Above the mountains and clouds, it came into view. A huge indigo-colored bird carried two passengers on its back. Majestically, the bird opened its wings all the way and dove down on its side. Sakura and Syaoran held on tightly to the feathers of the bird, giving one loud screech in the air. Sakura felt the wind beating her face, the whooshing ringing in her ears lowering the volume of her voice to Syaoran. "I'm sorry I you couldn't stay!" she apologized. "Huh!?" Syaoran asked cupping his hear. "I'M SORRY YOU CAN'T STAY!" Syaoran closed his eyes and nonchalantly replied back, "It's no problem. Your guardians wouldn't allow you, it's only natural they would look after you like so." Sakura sadly looked across the mountain.

            "Sakura," he called, "Why are you the only human in 'Spirit Forest'?" Sakura didn't answer. Syaoran began to hear light sniffing noises while her back was facing him. "Sakura?" She slowly turned around giving him a big smile, "It's my choice," she said without hesitating, "'Spirit Forest' is my home. Kero and Yue are my parents; the 'Spirit Tree' is my mother. It's my duty to be with them." Syaoran felt jealous a bit, "You have loved ones, people who care for you. I'm glad that you at least have people to depend on. But you are a human, why do you live in 'Spirit Forest'?" Sakura avoided the question until she reached the mountain peak.

            It was almost an instant transformation. Sakura just passed the mountain peak and right behind it, was a town fortified with large tree trunks and guards observing the skies for incoming threats, namely, spiritual threats. "I can't get any closer Syaoran," Sakura said as their altitude got lower, "From now on you're on your own, I wish you could stay just a bit longer but Kero-chan and Yue-san will get upset if I break my word." Syaoran got off the bird and took his clothes, slinging it over his shoulder. "Then I guess this is goodbye?" Syaoran asked. "No!" she snapped, "I'm sure we'll see each other again, someday when you find out who you are, someday when the spirits are at ease, I'm sure I'll see you again." Sakura gave a huge cheerful smile. Syaoran in return waved as he slowly walked away. Sakura waved to him until he passed the fog which obscured the vision of the town afar.

            When Syaoran was far enough, Sakura stopped waving. And her light smile, turned into a worried frown. "Be careful, Syaoran…" Pulling the bird by the feathers, Sakura stroked the bird on its head. "Shall we go, Tori?" the bird screeched as it's response and flapped its wings until it hovered a bit in the air, Sakura pulled lightly on its feathers. The bird flapped its wings harder, until the bird itself could not be seen above the clouds.

            Syaoran walked up to the gates of the city. Slowly, he approached with caution as the fog began to clear and he saw two guards by the side of a large gate, clad in samurai armor and equipped with long spears in their right hand. Syaoran felt a shiver down his spine as he saw their faces: stern, scarred, almost as if they were dead of all emotions. "Who are you?" the guard asked as Syaoran came into view from the fog. "Stranger identify yourself,"

 The other guard asked with his mouth muffled by his samurai armor. Syaoran stepped up two feet in the guards' view; they crossed their spears, permitting him from coming any closer. 

            "Step aside!" Syaoran demanded, "I wish to pass." The guard to the left looked down upon him with his eyebrows cocked, "You think just because you come here you may pass?" Syaoran sincerely insisted on going in without any harm, "Step aside now! I don't wish you any harm!" Irritated, one of the guard grabbed held his spear tightly and charged, "You rude boy!" he yelled in his charge. The spear pointed right towards Syaoran's stomach, ready to impale him any moment. Syaoran calmly waited for him to charge closer. All of the sudden, Syaoran grabbed the spear inches before in impaled him, and threw his spear down, knocking the guard off balance. Syaoran saw this opportunity and quickly jumped with both feet and stepped on his head, driving his face into the rocky dirt ground.

            "Why you!" the other guard charged with rage, fully swinging his spear to Syaoran's left. Syaoran ducked the swing and swept him off his feet. Afterwards, Syaoran quickly pulled the guard's spear from his hands and poised it right towards his neck. "Listen, I don't wish to harm you," Syaoran pulled the spear away from his neck; "Please let me in." The guard stared at him blankly with fear in his eyes and pulled a gate switch in the dirt ground. The gate tumbled down onto the rocky terrain, creating a huge thud as it hit the ground. "Thank you," Syaoran graciously said as he walked into the noisy town.

            His eyes immediately saw bustling activity: carts, open-air markets, shops, vendors, it was all there. He silently spoke to himself as the gate behind him shut. "Now where do I begin?" he asked himself, "Who would know where different things originate from?" Syaoran jerked his head when he heard a loud crashing of metallic bowls, seeing the bowls landing in a vendor's shop on the floor. 

"Well, what do we have here? New merchandise!" the man who ran the vendor shop grabbed one of the beautifully colored metallic bowls and put it on his blanket for sale. "NO!" an old woman grabbed her bowl back, but the young vendor quickly grabbed back his bowl and pulled forcefully. "Get your hands off my merchandise old woman!" The old woman struggled trying to get her bowl back, "But these are my last items I have to sell or the landlords will lock me in prison, give me them back." The vendor kicked the old woman away, "Buzz off wench!" Syaoran saw this injustice; he made it his business as he walked towards the vendor.

The old woman bowed for her possessions back, but the cocky vendor didn't pay any mind to her. Syaoran walked towards the vendor and looked down upon the slime. "Hey man!" he said with his friendliest voice, "How can I help you?" Syaoran stared at the disgusting man who had bees flying around his grey shirt and brown vest. His nappy hair was covered by a turban wrapped around his head. He sat in a lazy sloppy position, his legs spread out as he scratched his lower extremities. "Hey," he grunted, "You buying anything or not?" Syaoran slung around his clothes in front of him to show the vendor. "I was wondering if you could answer my question?" As soon as Syaoran pulled out his green silk robe, the vendor stared at it with his eyes gaping, "Every answer comes with a fee; maybe your silk robe will do quite nicely." Syaoran taunted the man by letting it get close to him, then immediately pulling it away, "On one condition," the man grunted, "You give back the old woman her belongings and you answer me, otherwise, you don't get diddly squat!" The vendor accepted, he put his hands on the metallic bowl and tossed it back to the old woman. 

"Oh thank you!" she cried while begging Syaoran for thanks, "Thank you kind sir!" Syaoran shrugged her thanks humbly. Syaoran turned his attention toward the vendor and held the clothes right up to his face, "Where do these type of clothes come from?" The vendor snapped his fingers, as if he figured it out that fast, "Those are clothes that come from a country to the west, the one with those bakayaros!" The vendor grabbed a hold of the pant leg but Syaoran quickly pulled it back, "What is the name of that country?" The vendor shrugged his shoulders, "How should I know, ask a sea captain or something, I don't know my geography." Syaoran peevishly struggled as the vendor tightened his grip around the clothes, "Where can I find a sea captain?" The vendor struggled while answering him back, "That's enough out of you, I only promised to answer one question, now give me the clothes and scram!" 

Syaoran, a man of his word, let go of his clothes and gave them to the man. He slowly walked away and began to ask a nearby civilian of where a sea captain could be found. The vendor folded the clothes nicely and put them on display to sell. Soon, three men came up from behind the vendor's tent and whispered in his ear. "Do you want us to get that rich bakayaro?" The vendor gave a sinister smile, "Rob him for all he's worth!"

Syaoran approached an elderly man, "Sir," he asked politely, "I need to know where I can find a sea captain." The old man gave a smile and rubbed his bald head, "A sea captain eh? There should be one at the docks, just turn to your right when you walk down the main road past the fish market." Syaoran nodded his head as thanks and moved on. Three men slowly followed Syaoran as he began to walk along the main road, "Be quiet!" one man whispered loudly, "If he suspects us then we won't be able to rob him." Syaoran started to slow down as he tried to look for the fish market so he could make the correct turn. But all of the sudden, the three men grabbed him by the arms and took him into the alley right next to the fish market. "Hey what's the big—oof!" Syaoran coughed as one of the men punched him in the gut. "Shut up! You rich bakayaro! Only selfishly keeping your wealth to yourself." Syaoran tried to break out of the grip of the two men, but when one let go of his arm, the other would kick him down to not escape. 

"Now what's this?" a voice erupted from the shadows of the alley, "Picking on an innocent man? Where is the chivalry in that?" The men let go of Syaoran, who fell on his knees and winced the pain in his stomach, "Who are you?" the men asked to a figure emerging out of the shadows. "It's not important if you don't show some respect to a simple civilian," the man stepped out of the shadows and into the light, where the sun's rays reflected off of his spectacles. The man brushed his red naval outfit and fixed his black sea cap, which covered his raven black hair and small ponytail. "Civilian stranger," the man called to Syaoran, "Are you ok?" Syaoran rolled safely to the side of the well dressed man, "I'll manage." Syaoran stood up, clenched his fists, and put them out in ready to fight position. "Let's say we have at these foes stranger?" the man asked with a tone of humor. He unsheathed his sword out of its holster and took a fencing position, poised and ready to attack the three harassers. All three crooks slowly receded from the alley, putting their hands out forward to indicate 'they don't want any trouble'. Syaoran only smiled and gave the stranger a smirk, "That's sound like a plan!" 

Both the stranger and Syaoran rushed towards the three men. Chasing them out of the alley and into the market. From there, the three men split up to ensure that there would be one who would escape. Syaoran took the crook to the right and tackled his feet so that he fell on his face. The man tried desperately to kick Syaoran, who had a tight grip around his feet. But Syaoran wouldn't allow to be so easily taken care of. Syaoran stood up, still clutching the man's feet, and when the man was on an incline, he twirled him; around and around and around, until he finally let go and the man flung into a stall selling hard nuts. Syaoran picked the guy up by the collar and dragged him over.

The stranger was chasing down the other crook. "You aren't gonna catch me you damn foreigner!" the crook shouted while tossing innocent people so that the stranger could not catch up. The man finally found a neatly stacked pyramid of barrels and used his knife to cut the rope to crush the stranger. "I hope foreigners like barrels!" The stranger saw the incoming barrels coming from above him, he quickly swatted them away. The criminal started to run after his barrel attempt failed, but the stranger quickly caught up to him and sliced his pants down. The criminal reacted by pulling his pants up, but the distraction allowed for the stranger to take his dull edge and turn the criminal around and knock him with the blunt side of his sword. 

Syaoran wrist locked his crook and the stranger twisted the arm of his criminal. "You're a mean fighter!" Syaoran complimented. "You aren't so bad yourself!" the stranger replied, "So why were these men after you?" Syaoran slapped his crook in the back of the head out of anger, "These guys attacked me for no reason when I was looking for a sea captain." "A sea captain?" the stranger confirmed, "I'm a sea captain." Syaoran was shocked, "You're the sea captain?" The stranger nodded with delight, "The name's Eriol, sea captain of her majesty's naval forces in Kyushu Island." "There they are!" the third criminal shouted, "Those are the guys who beat me and my friends up and decided to take our belongings." Two guards in samurai helmets took out their spears and poised them at Syaoran and the Eriol's neck. "Let go of those two!" they commanded. Without any resistance, Syaoran and Eriol let go of the criminals. "You have some nerve causing trouble here you English pig!" a man said from behind the guards, "Especially an English sea captain pig, I should execute you where you stand." "But her majesty's law protects me from you doing so," Eriol replied logically. "Lord Bukai!" the three criminals shouted, "Execute that bakayaro! He's the person who started it." 

Lord Bukai faced Syaoran, overshadowing him with his straw hat, "You look vaguely familiar bakayaro! Do I know you?" Syaoran stared at his clean cut scar on his left cheek, "I don't believe so." Lord Bukai turned away from Syaoran and faced Eriol again. "Listen English pig, you are only here because of your navy," Lord Bukai spoke in a scratchy voice, "If not, I would kill you where you stood, that way I could show everyone just how your majesty betrayed you!" Lord Bukai slowly turned around, "English pig and bakayaro, don't cause trouble in my town ago, or the emperor will hear about this." As Lord Bukai walked away, his guards closely followed and Syaoran's eyes gazed at Lord Bukai, almost as if he had met him somewhere before.

Eriol turned to Syaoran, "So you were looking for me earlier?" Eriol asked, "Just what troubles you my friend?" Syaoran was in a deep trance, still gazing at Bukai from the distance, "I don't know, maybe you can help me find a murderer." Eriol cocked his eyes at Syaoran, "Excuse me?" Syaoran snapped out of his little trance and realized what he had just said. "I'm sorry," he apologized for dazing off, "I wanted to ask you if you know a country to the west of the seas, the place where the people here call, the 'place of the bakayaros'." Eriol gave a slightly perplexed look, "There are many lands to the west," he said, "But if you are giving me that description, I cannot deduct anything from this clue." Syaoran jerked his head at Eriol giving him a stern look, "But, the way you are dressed and the way you look, I would say those lands are referred to as 'China'." "China?" Syaoran gave an inquisitive look. "Yes China, mainland China to be more precise." 

Syaoran watched as Eriol began to walk away, windy breeze lightly blew him, making his hair messed up a bit, "Please, can you take me there?" Eriol turned his head to look at Syaoran from the corner of his eye, "I wish I could, but I'm occupied," Syaoran squinted his eyes a bit, "There is another town that will probably give you a ferry though; to the north of here, past the woods." Syaoran nodded as Eriol walked away, "Thank you!" 

Syaoran made his way out of town and into the woods to the north. He silently trekked the mountain pass along the way in order to make it into the woods. "I have a bad feeling about this place," he thought, "Almost as if there is something here waiting for me." Syaoran heard a light rustle above him; he looked up, but saw nothing. "Maybe it's my imagination," he thought to himself as he continued to walk. Suddenly, a barrage of arrows came flying from behind Syaoran. His senses foretold him something from behind and reflexively, he dove off to the side. However, the side awaited a well covered pit which Syaoran barely grabbed the edge of in order to not fall. Syaoran pulled himself up and looked to his left. "I gotta get out of here!" he said to himself. 

Suddenly, one last well placed trap fell from above Syaoran, catching him in a net which he could not escape. Syaoran struggled within the net, desperately trying to break out, but breaking out proved useless as soon as five men appeared around Syaoran surrounding him. "At last," a man with spiky hair and a robe just like Syaoran's said, "We've finally caught you, Syaoran."


	6. Five Deadly Sins

Shirin no Kami

Chapter 5: Five Deadly Sins

            Trapped, that is what has become of Syaoran. A strategically placed net has caught Syaoran in the grasps of five individuals who surround him, each with a different size and wardrobe. "At last we've caught you Syaoran," a spike haired man said, "You don't know how long we've waited for this." Syaoran gave the guy a quizzical expression, "What are you talking about?" Syaoran snapped, "Who are you?" Syaoran turned his head to the left, turned his head to the right, examining his present situation, "Just what do you guys want?" 

            "Greed!" the chubby man to the right called out, "Maybe he's lost his memory. After all, it was a pretty hard fall." The spiky haired man, Greed, stood in front of Syaoran, putting his hands into his pockets, "Shut up Glutton," he snapped back, "Memory or not, we have personal issues with this guy…" 

Syaoran felt the gritty dirt on the ground. Cautiously feeling around the edges of the net, he managed to touch a loose pin not attached to the ground, "Yes!" he thought to himself, "A way out…" He put his hand on the rope connected to the pin and waited for his opportunity. 

            The fat man to Syaoran's right, Glutton, began to argue with Greed, putting his fist out and spitting saliva as he yelled, "Listen Greed, I know you want to get rid of the guy but since he's not remembering who we are I think we should take advantage of that." "You fool!" the man on Syaoran's right snapped, "Glutton, you are not the brightest of the Five Deadly Sinners. Don't tell us what to do!" 

            "Good," Syaoran thought, "They are fighting amongst each other now!" Syaoran pulled the rope in a quick jerking motion, "Now's my chance!" he said, throwing the net right toward the three men arguing in front of him. Syaoran turned around and saw the other two people behind him. One pulled out his pocket knife, attached to a string which was attached to his shirt pocket. He wore a purple coat with matching pants and gave Syaoran a big sick smile. His long black hair was wild, stranding everywhere on his face.

            Syaoran saw the other man to the right. He stood tall with a good posture, crossed arms, and noble stare. Syaoran felt a little uneasy because this man's frame was much wider than the other four he has already seen. This noble man donned a black-grey vest and two shackles on his arms. His brown hair slicked back, with a single strand of hair sticking up. His eyes pierced Syaoran; they were sharp and gave a feeling of murderous intent. 

            Syaoran clenched his left fist, "Out of my way!" he stated, "I don't wish to cause any trouble." The sick sadistic man began to laugh hysterically, Syaoran got peeved. "WELL!?" he shouted, "Get out of my way or I'll remove you!" The noble, strong man smiled a little and gave a humorous, "Hm!" Syaoran could not waste anymore time. While the three men were trapped in the net Syaoran occupied them in, he had to quickly take of the other two men blocking his path of escape, his last recourse is chosen in less than a second.

            "Argh!" he yelled as he charged his fist forward at the sadistic looking man, "You're going down!" Syaoran's fist came out fast and powerful, ready to strike the sadistic man in the face. The sadistic man jerked his head to the side, dodging the punch. Syaoran delivered a fast right hook, the sadistic man ducked and turned around his knife in his hand, he gave a vicious smile as he was in position. SLICE! The man sliced the knife right across Syaoran's stomach, ripping to shreds the clothes protecting him and gashing his stomach a bit. Syaoran stumbled back and clutched onto his stomach, falling on one knee and trying to regain his composure.

            Syaoran winced in pain and rushed forward toward the man again. First he delivered a right jab, the man dodged that, then a knee to the stomach, deflected that with his hands, swung with the back of his fist, the man caught his arm. Syaoran with his last arm free, delivered a punch to his head, but again, the man dodged it, used his teeth to sink into and grab his arm, and pulled him in close. Syaoran seethed as his teeth sank in his arm and made him drip blood. "He he he…" the man giggled, "We weren't properly introduced," he pulled Syaoran in close enough, showing his dilated pupils to Syaoran, "They call me…Sloth!" Sloth took his free arm and quickly flipped out another knife out from his sleeve. In one quick motion, Sloth stabbed Syaoran to the side of his chest right next to the shoulder.

            "AHHHHH!" Syaoran screamed with incredible pain. Sloth still clutching onto his arm twisted it upside down. CRACK! Syaoran screamed some more with his arm dislocating. He got on his knees, seething through his teeth, hearing the screeches in his own squeaking pain. "By the way," Sloth kneeled down to Syaoran's eye level, in his most sinister sadistic tone he said, "My name Sloth is very misleading." Sloth delivered a fast roundhouse to Syaoran's face, knocking him back as he skid in the dirt and created a four foot trail. "Now it's your turn Pride!" Sloth said with a sinister laugh. The noble and muscular man opened his eyes after a brief meditation period. He uncrossed his arms and stomped the ground, making little earthquakes as he approached Syaoran's body.

            "Agh!" Syaoran struggled, "Who are these guys?" Syaoran rested his good hand on the knife in his shoulder. With a sudden thrust, he managed to pull out the knife and throw it to the ground. Stained with blood, the knife that was in him was four inches deep, Syaoran arm coursed with streams of blood. Next on Syaoran's priorities was to fix his arm, to do so, he rested his dislocated arm and pushed it one the ground. Using every bit of strength in his arm he had left, he twisted his arm as hard as he could. CRAAAAACK! "Ah!" Syaoran winced as the coursing blood in his arm stopped and his dislocated arm popped back into its socket. He tried to rest a bit, but as soon as he picked up his head, a charging forearm came closer and closer to him by the second.

            Syaoran attempted to duck the oncoming forearm, but his reflexes slowed down from the incredible loss of blood. The forearm struck him in the neck, Syaoran held onto the forearm, big mistake. Pride continued to run faster, with Syaoran holding onto his forearm. The tree came into Pride's sights, he only ran faster, until he slammed Syaoran's back onto the tree trunk. The large collision between Syaoran's back and the tree trunk caused his body to react to the hit by splurging out a huge mouthful of blood. Pride backed off a little, taking his forearm off of Syaoran. Syaoran's body got woozy from the impact, as he stepped forward, his footing was crooked. Pride saw this small weakness and used his two massive arms to put a big lock around his stomach. "Enjoy the ride!" Sloth said as Pride delivered a devastating throw. Pride threw Syaoran behind him to make him land on the back of his head (German suplex), hard. 

            Sloth approached the net that Syaoran threw at the three men and cut it open with his knife. "Doesn't he know he can't beat us yet?" Greed taunted, "That's it! Enough playing around, it's my turn." Pride heard Greed call for Syaoran, who was now bleeding profusely in the forehead, Pride tossed Syaoran in front of Greed. Greed kicked him a bit while he was down and stepped on the back of his head.

            Syaoran tried so hard to see what was going on when he opened his eyes. He looked at the ground, seeing the dirt and grass turn into a big haze. He felt the light kicks by Greed, taunting him, each kick making his vision worse by rocking his head. Syaoran tried to pull himself up. He managed to stand up, but his eyes immediately rested on Greed's face. 

            "Pathetic!" he taunted as he slapped Syaoran across the face making him spin around. Syaoran put his hands on the side of his temples and squeezed his head hard to regain his vision. Slowly, he massaged his head, seeing everything clearer and steadier. He turned around, seeing the other four Deadly Sinners surrounding him in a ring formation. "Alright…" Syaoran turned around to Greed's voice, "Let's make this quick!" Greed took off his black coat, revealing his muscular physique. Syaoran looked at his chest, immediately he saw a Chinese character engraved, almost burned, to his left pectoral. "How do you have that?" Syaoran demanded to know, "What does that brand mean?" Greed put his hands up; apparently ready to fight, "Less talk, more walk!"

            The other four sinners pushed Syaoran into Greed, this push made Greed stick his fist out to deliver a punch to Syaoran's gut and a kick to the side of his head. Syaoran stumbled from this hit, but regained his composure and put his arms up to defend another punch going to be delivered to his side. Greed tried to pound Syaoran with an overhead fist, but Syaoran blocked it with both his arms. Without defense on his midsection, Greed kicked him square in the chest. Syaoran stumbled back from the impact, bumping into Glutton provoked the other four, and into the gauntlet of the sinners Syaoran entered. 

            Syaoran tried to fight off each member one at a time, but they overwhelmed him when he was targeting another member. Finally, Pride grabbed Syaoran by the neck and upper-cut him. The force of the hit sent him flying into Sloth, who took another knife and stabbed him in the knee. Syaoran clutched his knee and tried to limp his way out of the gauntlet and out of the woods, however Glutton charged at his side knocking him over into Envy, who in turn punched him square in his bloody face. Syaoran fell down face first into the ground, soiling his blood drenched face with dirt. Syaoran was tired, beaten, devoid, and isolated; he lay in the ground in hopes that they would just put him out of his misery of the pain he is enduring. 

            Greed grabbed Syaoran's chestnut-red hair and picked his head up to his eye level, "I don't want you dead Syaoran," he stated, "But one final blow shouldn't hurt." Greed balled up his fist and pulled it back, ready to deliver one final blow.

            Suddenly, an arrow snapped right in front of Greed's eyes. Its flight swiftly passed right across Greed's vision and hit right next to his foot. Greed immediately let go and looked around. "Who's there!?" he demanded to know, "Find that person!" he commanded to his fellow sinners. Suddenly, an array of arrows flew right towards the five men. Pride, standing in the front of the arrow's flight path, was hit by four arrows. "They're fake!" he concluded, "These arrows are distractions." 

            A shady curved figure hid behind a tree and mumbled, "Kasumi, help me…" the feminine voice called forth a fog to cloud the five men. Syaoran felt a light hand pick him up and drag him away. Soon the mist died out and the five could see again. "Syaoran is gone!" Glutton pointed out the obvious. "Spread out!" Greed commanded, "Find Syaoran, he couldn't have gone far."

            The shady curved figure kneeled down and cupped Syaoran's chin. "Syaoran," it asked, "Are you okay?" Syaoran slowly opened his functional eye and tried to concentrate on the person before him. "Sakura…" he smiled with a weak voice, "…leave please, you don't have to do this." Sakura, wearing a different set of clothes, ripped off a shred of the bottom of her long brown shirt and tied it around Syaoran's forehead. "Syaoran, we're going to get out of here." Sakura felt a strong choke behind her neck. Pride grabbed Sakura by the back of her neck and started to strangle her. "Little girl!" he said in a serious tone, "No heroics for you." Sakura struggled hard to get out of his massive grip, but her weaker legs could not cause enough pain to knock him down.

            "EARTHY!" she shouted as loud as she could. Large golems of earth appeared behind Pride and grabbed him, making him let go of Sakura. Sakura choked a bit from the saliva that she swallowed, relieving herself. She quickly rushed towards Syaoran and pulled him by his arm. "TORI!" she called. In return, a response from the large blue bird cawed, and picked her and Syaoran up before they could be found again.

            The earth golems disappeared, releasing Pride and the other men. Greed looked at the fleeing Syaoran and Sakura and he grumbled, "Escape is but a dream compared to your destiny, Syaoran!" His sinister smile foreshadowed his dark intentions, as he gradually laughed away.


	7. Plans

Shirin no Kami

Chapter 6: Plans 

            Bustling streets, merchants, noise: the epitome of every fortified city. The cluttered streets made it very difficult for Eriol to navigate through. He passed each citizen, bumping into them; they gave him a disgusting stare as he passed by. Eriol was used to the discomfort of not being home, he missed his dear love Kaho, and his daughter Nakuru. He thought in his mind about when he could return home, when he could see his family again, but business came first, he approached the Lord's mansion, closer to the gates next to the guard.

            "Where is your pass?" the guard asked. Eriol pulled out a long scroll which he rolled out to the ground, picking it up as he showed the guard the seal of approval. "Very well!" the guard replied, "You may enter!" The gates opened, Eriol strutted in. The mansion looked very much Japanese. A koi pond was at one side, with lanterns that hung above a string. Eriol stopped by for just a second to stare at the beautiful view.

            "You wished to see me?" a strong voice called, "Are you ready to carry out your mission?" Eriol turned around looking at the person calling him, it was Lord Bukai. "Everything is ready," he stated, "I have prepared top of the line technology in my ships. The torrential weather of 'Spirit Forest' can easily be penetrated with this technology." Bukai smiled, his scar stretching to his eye, "Excellent. I'll finally be able to get my hands on the so called 'Spirit Forest'. Imagine how much that land will cost once we have conquered it all. The mere value is already heightened by its legends and beautiful scenery."

            Eriol gave a frown, "I cannot believe that such a man would deface a property of land so sacred to the origins of your country." Lord Bukai nonchalantly responded, "That land, the most beautiful has been hidden away by its torrential waters and mists. The legends of the land being a haven for the spirits are but nonsense stories told to children to avoid the land so that their descendants who truly realize the potential of such land can be profitable." Eriol fastened his sword, "Do you truly believe there is no such thing as spirits?" Bukai smiled, "They are child's tales, told to scare us. Only the fearless would charge and find the truth."

            The north entrance of the city had two guards holding their spears. One guard was sleeping, the other was awake and on the look out for possible threats coming from the forest. The guard was about to go to sleep until he saw four silhouettes coming towards him. "Identify yourself!" he yelled to the incoming silhouettes, "I'm warning you identify yourself." Suddenly, a sick, demented, dark-haired man appeared right in front of the guard's face giving him a big crooked smile. 

            SHCUNK! One of the man's knives impaled the guard right in the stomach. "After you…" Sloth said to Pride. Pride slowly inspected the gate, looking for a possible switch hidden. When he couldn't find into the switch, he erupted all his strength into the gate, knocking it down. People on the other side of the gate were crushed by it coming down on top of them. Everybody in the town stopped in suddenness, they saw the gate fall down with their gaped open. The dust smoke slowly cleared away revealing the five members of the Deadly Sinners. 

            They all strutted, jerking their shoulders in hard, yet cool looking motions. Everybody who crowded the streets made way for them to pass, almost as if a huge dark aura pushed them away as they came closer. "Hey look at that," said one of the three thieves, "It's another bunch of rich bakayaros." "Well," said the second thief, "Want to try to rob them?" The last thief put each arm around his companions, "Let's do it!" The three stupid thieves walked up to the five sinners and bumped into them on purpose. All the townspeople gasped and covered their eyes.

            "Hey you bumped into me," stated the second thief. "So?" Greed mocked, "You bumped into me, you better apologize now." Greed displayed his cocky face, ready to accept an apology. "Maybe you didn't hear us well," said the third thief, "We're the gang of this town, and you bumped into US. Do you bakayaros expect us to let you go free?" Greed gave him a slightly puzzled look, but then replaced it with a humorous one as he realized what they were demanding for, "AHH! I see! You want to ask us for money in a non-threatening manner. But don't you know that you owe us money for showing your ugly faces to me?" 

            The first thief furiously snared, "Why you little!" he threw a punch to Greed, but Greed stepped aside. "Take care of him Glutton." Glutton stuck his stomach in front of the thief's punch. The hand was immediately stopped by the gelatinous stomach of Glutton. Glutton gave a hearty laugh and picked up the thief overhead, throwing him extremely hard on the ground, imprinting the thief into the ground. Glutton gave another hearty laughed and put all his weight into stepping on the thief further into the ground. Glutton spread his foot all over the thief's body, hearing the cracking of his bones and the squishing of his intestines.

            The other two thieves saw the mutilated horror of their fallen companion and took the chance to attack Greed. Envy came to intercept one of the attacks of one of the thieves while Greed was stuck with the other thief. The thief sent a flurry of punches towards Greed, but Greed easily dodged them all, as if they didn't even reach him. The thief tried to deliver Greed a kick to his face, however, Greed grabbed his foot right before it hit his face and kicked him in the face instead, sending him twirling towards the ground. Greed smiled as his opponent was breathing heavily and struggling for breath.

            Envy deflected all his opponent's hits. The thief saw it was inevitable to fight without getting a single hit on Envy, out of desperation he pushed Envy away for distance and decided to run for his life. Envy, instead of chasing the man and catching him, stood still with his arms crossed. He looked back and forth, first to Greed, and then turning his head to the thief. "Should I?" he thought to himself. Greed simply took a coin out of his pocket and tapped Envy on the shoulder with it. "Care to do the honors?" Envy fixed his short free flowing hair by brushing his sideburns to the side, he then took the coin Greed had in his hands. Envy closed his left eye and aimed, holding the coin by its tip. He then closed his right eye and aimed again. As the thief gained further distance, Envy took his time even more to savior the moment.

            "NOW!" Envy told himself as he flawlessly threw the coin. The coin was perfectly flying through the air, aerodynamic and making a loud whistling sound as it flew across the air, cutting and breaking the sound barrier. "I'll be home free," the thief chanted, "I'll be home fr--" As Greed and the others looked on, they saw the man, nearly 100 meters away, fall down. The coin dropped on the ground, making a loud 'ping', it was drenched with blood which only told the five sinners one thing, clean cut through the heart.

            "Now then…" Sloth picked up the surviving thief by the collar. The thief looked into his dilated eyes and shook uncontrollably at the sight of his crooked teeth and long black hair. Greed patiently peeked out of Sloth's side, "Where is your lord?"

            Sakura put the moistened cloth on Syaoran's forehead. He was unconscious and taped up on his body everywhere. "Poor Syaoran," she said to herself looking away, "You are so confused, so lost, where can you possibly come from?" Sakura took her fur blanket and pulled it up to his neck, covering his body. "No…" Syaoran mumbled as he started to sweat. Sakura turned her attention to him and moistened his cloth again. "No…" Syaoran uttered again, "…I don't know who I am….please…" Sakura felt sympathy for Syaoran as she stepped outside to let Syaoran rest.

            Sakura stepped outside and walked out of the comfort of inside the cave and stepped outside into the beautiful forest. She looked around seeing the whole forest sparkle with green everywhere, walking to the bushes and smelling the flowers as she was carrying a basket in her arms. As she began to smell a bushel of flowers, the pink spirit with curly hair appeared behind her. Though she didn't make a sound, Sakura could sense her aura slowly approach her. "How is everything today Hua?" Sakura turned around seeing Hua give her a nice big smile. Sakura began to walk with Hua into a clear area, surrounded by trees and filled with flowers.

            The clearing had many of the birds and other small forest animals smelling the flowers on the ground. Sakura sat in the center of the clearing, Hua sat right next to Sakura. Sakura closed her eyes smelling the sweet aroma of plum blossoms and cherry blossoms. The smell she emitted however, smelled sweeter than the two flowers combined. The small animals gathered around her and Hua, snuggling close next to them. "Well," Sakura spoke to them as she used her hand to nuzzle the animals on their side, "I brought Syaoran back today. I know Yue-san and Kero-chan are going to have a fit over it. But he was in danger, don't you think I should've helped him, it's only right." A small baby bunny jumped into her lap and cuddled her until it slowly went to sleep. "I guess you're right," she spoke, "I guess humans aren't really allowed in 'Spirit Forest', but can't they make an exception?"

            "NO!" came a response from behind Sakura. Sakura, a bit startled, turned around to see who it was. "Yue-san," she stumbled as she got up, making all the animals run away from her and making Hua eventually disappeared into thin air. "I always wanted to know something Yue-san." Yue waited for her question as he folded his wings into his body, "Why aren't other humans allowed into 'Spirit Forest'?" Yue closed his eyes, feeling the pain that question brings back, "Humans were once allowed to be in 'Spirit Forest', but a certain incident has changed the laws of 'Spirit Forest' into what it has become today." Sakura sobbed as she thought about Syaoran, "But can't you make an exception, Syaoran is lost and I want to help him find his way."

            Yue shook his head, "We spirits no longer intervene in the nature of man. All our job is now is to let things in nature occur as they naturally do, humans are no longer our problem." Yue began to walk away as he saw Sakura's head hang down, "I expect you to follow my orders Sakura, don't let the humans in. Once the human has healed, he will go back to wherever you found him. After which, I want you to share no business with him." "But…" Sakura started to say. "But nothing!" Yue replied not wanting to hear anymore, "Whatever happens to him after we grant him one last act of hospitality is no longer our concern. You will no longer pay any mind to him. Is that understood?" Sakura refused to accept that, but Yue was her guardian, she couldn't just say no, she tried to get around Yue's statement, "Yue, please do this for me." Yue flatly refused by walking away and flying into the sky at an incredible speed. 

            Sakura, deeply saddened by her refusal whispered a solemn vow to herself, "I want to find out what humankind is possible of. I'll keep you safe, Syaoran…"

            "Lord Bukai!" the guard shouted. Lord Bukai who was busy talking to Eriol turned his attention to the guard. "Domestic disturbance my lord, five people claiming they wish to see you by force." Eriol bowed while Bukai was listening to the guard, "By your leave Lord Bukai I will go to 'Spirit Forest' and conquer it for you." Bukai nodded as he sent away Eriol. Eriol fixed his cap and slowly walked away.

            "My lord," the guard frantically asked, "They are destroying anything and anyone in their path to get to you, what should I do?" Lord Bukai put his hands behind his back and thought of a dastardly scheme. "Send more men to fight them," he commanded, "Show no mercy: guns, swords, cannons, it doesn't matter to me. Just try to dispose of them." 

            The guards all rushed in as they were in the front yard attacking the five sinners who had literally forced their way into the complex. All soldiers and guards started to receive swords and spears to hold back and possibly kill the invaders. "Is that the best you've got?" Greed said unimpressed, as he saw a rushing militia of soldiers. Glutton rolled himself into a ball and rolled faster and faster. It was like bowling, the militia tried so hard to stop him with their spears and sharp weapons, but Glutton's large body size crushed their weapons and crushed them as well. 

            The people on top of the balcony of the mansion aimed at Envy. Envy stood still inside the targets of the men on the balcony, his hands were in his pockets. Suddenly, as they cocked their guns and about to pull the trigger, they saw nothing but red vision. "My eyes!" screamed one of the gunmen on the balcony. The other gunman tried to restrain him and ask him what the matter was. However, just like their fallen friend, they too began to see red vision. All the gunmen on the balcony put their hand over their eyes and squeezed the blood gushing out of them. Envy gave a smile as he heard their blood curdling screams. "No one can shoot me…no one!"

            The cannon men brought out their two ton cannons. Each man in unison would grab a cannonball, plop it into the cannon, clean it out with the broom, and fire it. Pride stepped in shooting distance of the cannons. "Ready, take aim…" Pride heard these preparatory commands and turned around, "FIRE!" The whole front yard was filled with the sounds of blasting gunpowder. Pride waited for the first cannonball to hit him, each cannonball inching closer and closer to him. Suddenly, he slapped his hands together and caught the cannonball with his bare hands. The rest of the cannonballs missed him, exploding the earth around him. The cannon men stared at him, astonished by the incredible strength to catch a cannonball with his bare hands. "Hmm…" Pride was unimpressed. He tossed the cannonball as hard as he could to the cannon men. The cannon men ran away single file, trying to escape the explosion of the cannonball. Instead of escaping an explosion however, the cannonballs hit the back of the cannon men's head and took all their heads off, decapitating them.

            All the guards, overwhelmed of the strength of five men began to run away from the front yard. They started to retreat to the main complex to protect their lord. Suddenly, a huge overcastting shadow passed above the retreating army. Sloth appeared in front of the army and chuckled with a menacing laugh, complete with a sloppy posture and his hair covering his face. "Don't think you can get passed me!" Sloth jerked his head up and rushed into the army. Slashing and screams of the army were heard and within a matter of seconds, Sloth appeared with his back turned towards the army. He turned his face around and gave a sick smile, "Now die!" The whole army collapsed afterward with blood spurting everywhere on the ground.

            "Clap clap clap clap clap!" The sound of applause made the five men turn to the sound, wondering where it was coming from. "Wonderful, simply wonderful!" Lord Bukai smiled, "You five are really great fighters, care to join me for some tea?"

            The sweet aroma of green tea filled the room where Bukai and the five sinners sat. "So I see," Bukai stated, "You five are after a man named Li Syaoran because he is very important to your mission." "Yes," Greed stated, "Syaoran is essential to accomplish our mission, we need to bring his head back to our master." Bukai and Greed sat across each other, admiring and honoring each other for being truly evil individuals. "I know you mission is imperative," Bukai looked at the other four members standing in various parts of the room, "But if you can assist me, not only will I guarantee that you get Li Syaoran but you will also receive quite a hefty pay for your services." 

            Greed licked his lips at the sound of money, "Alright, sounds good, depends on what you want us to do." Lord Bukai placed his hand on the table and slid a portrait of a beautifully painted forest towards Greed. "This forest is to the West, if Syaoran has escaped, then perhaps this is the possible place where he will be." Lord Bukai saw Greed's face as he looked at the portrait. Greed looked at it perplexed, "So what do you want us to do?" "I don't trust those Englishmen, so I want you and your five men to conquer the area for me. After seeing you guys in action, I think you guys can withstand the petty tricks there is in store for you."

            "We accept," Greed pressed his authority, "We'll get your forest, and you'll give us our Syaoran and money, it sounds like a plan." "Wait a second," Bukai rejected, "I'm not giving you any money until I am for sure you guys can get the job done." Greed and the other four members began to laugh at Lord Bukai hysterically. "What?" Bukai quizzically stared, "What's so funny?" Greed tried to contain himself after laughing so hard, "Oh Buki, Buki, Buki. How can you doubt us? We were trained in the deepest mountains; we all have something that will strengthen you ten fold." Bukai was furious of them showing such disrespect, "And what can you offer me?" 

"Listen Buki, not only will we get your forest but we'll also be your personal fight team." Greed offered with cockiness in his tone. Lord Bukai stared at all of them with a cock eyed stare. "Why would I need a fighting team?" he asked them, "Are you saying I cannot defend myself?" "No way!" Greed insulted, "We're much better than defense, we're killers!" Greed snapped his fingers and approached each member of the Deadly Sinners, properly introducing them to Lord Bukai.

"Sloth here is very misunderstood," Greed placed his hands on sloth, rubbing his shoulders, "We call him Sloth, but he's fast and he has that killer instinct you need to murder your victims." Greed ran next to Glutton and placed his hands on his shoulders. "Glutton here is indestructible. You throw anything at him, he just won't die!" Bukai began to show a little interest in their unique abilities. "Pride is our resident strongman. He breaks bones first and asks questions later." "What about him?" Bukai asked as he pointed to Envy. Envy leaned on the wall with his hands in his pockets. "Oh Envy?" Greed praised, "He's the smartest of us all…" 

"That's it?" Bukai asked, "That's his lousy ability?" Envy pulled some lint out of his pocket and flung it towards the opposite wall. The lint broke a tiny hole into the wall, after which, a loud crash is heard from the other room. "…Envy's also a 'dead shot'!" Bukai with a content face looked at his very own Deadly Sinners, ready to take his orders and ready to kill for his ambition.


	8. Honorable Devotion

Shirin no Kami

Chapter 7: Honorable Devotion

            "Hold on to the masts!" Eriol commanded. The ship rocked furiously as it got caught in a gigantic whirlpool. The ship's crew grabbed onto the ropes of the sails. Huge conga lines of crew members pulled on the ropes to make the boat sail the right direction. The helmsman pulled the steer to the right as hard as he could to turn out of the whirlpool. "Damnit!" Eriol cursed as he held onto a pole tightly, "I know we are going to make it past this whirlpool. I just know it!" 

            _Am I dead? How is it even possible I am still alive? Those five really kicked my butt good. Just who are they? Why are they after me? What do they want?_

"Ah!" Syaoran sprung out of bed, reaching for the ceiling, "Back here again?" Syaoran looked around the cabin, seeing it was the same as before. However, something was missing; a certain emerald-eyed girl didn't appear before Syaoran as he woke up. Syaoran felt his wet forehead, taking off the moist cloth that has become a dry towel and placing beside him. Syaoran looked down at his stomach, all taped up. Feeling each rib in his stomach, he winced in pain after feeling a bruise. "At least nothing is broken." 

            Syaoran slowly removed the blankets off of his body and picked up his clothes hanging from the chair. Slowly, he put them on, he felt the aching pain if he moved slightly. "They really beat me up," he complimented, "Whatever, I need to find Sakura."

            Sakura sat down peacefully looking into the bright blue sky touched by feathery clouds. With her basket full of apricot fruits inside, she picked one out and bit into it, tasting the tangy sour flavor which made her feel like she was in heaven. She sighed as she lay down on top of her arms like pillows. She closed her eyes after staring at birds flying in V-formation above her, hearing their light caws to each other. "Humans," she told herself, "Are they really as bad as Yue says? If that's the case, does that mean I'm bad too?"

            "Sakura," a voice called to her from behind. Sakura was awaken from her deep contemplation. She picked her head up and turned her neck around seeing Syaoran approach her. "Syaoran!" she exclaimed. Syaoran slowly bent down and sat next to her, staring at the sky just like her, "Is this what you do in your free time?" 

            Sakura nodded with a smile, "It's also where I go when I'm confused about life, when nobody answers my questions." Syaoran bent his head down, "It's great that you have a place to call your own," he said in a disappointed tone, "But sadly, everywhere I have gone has lead me to a dead end after dead end." Sakura tossed him an apricot and he caught it perfectly on cue. "I'm sure you'll find yourself one day Syaoran," she reassured, "And whenever you don't have a place to call home, I'll always be here. This can be your home." 

            Syaoran slowly stood up and began to walk away. Sakura inquisitively looked at him walk away, wondering what the matter was. "There were people who once let me into their home, but I brought disaster to them. I don't wish to do the same to this beautiful forest." Sakura stood up with all her courage and called out for Syaoran, stopping him in his tracks. "You never answered my question Sakura," Sakura was startled that he would remember a question he had asked so long ago, "Why are you the only human in 'Spirit Forest'? Do you like to be alone?" Sakura hung her head down, trying to muster up the courage to answer his question.

            "This forest did not begin with me Syaoran," Syaoran turned around seeing Sakura's sincere eyes, "Yue-san once told me of a brother I had here. My brother and his tribe, eventually, they all ran away from this place, leaving me behind. That is the story Yue-san told me." Syaoran was a bit sympathetic, "So you were abandoned?" Syaoran remembered how Amano once explained how he found Syaoran in the river, "So was I." Syaoran and Sakura walked up to each other, knowing that each other had something to give. 

            "Syaoran," Sakura blushed as she began to speak, "I want you to stay in 'Spirit Forest'." Syaoran was a bit startled, "Me, live with you?" Sakura nodded embarrassed, "I want to know more about humans, about what I am. My whole life I was brought up wondering how to live, how to have fun, how to have friends." Sakura turned around blushing even more, "The spirits are my friends, but they can't talk back to me." Sakura turned around showing the tears streaking down her face, "I don't care what Yue-san or Kero-chan says. I want you to live with me, Syaoran-kun."

            BOOM! The whole forest shook, like an earthquake. Sakura stumbled a bit; Syaoran immediately caught her before she could fall all the way to the ground. "What was that?" he asked. Sakura sniffed the air, smelling the unfriendly aroma of gunpowder, "Human invaders? But how?" Kero and Yue arrived at the scene and got on their knees in front of Sakura. "Guardian," they humbly bowed. "Guardian?" Syaoran questioned as he heard them. "Our mistress is the guardian of this forest," Kero explained. "If you wish to live, bow before the mercy of our guardian," Yue threatened. Syaoran immediately got on his knees pressing his hands on the ground. "Sakura," he apologized, "I had no idea of your responsibilities."

            Sakura picked Syaoran up by the arms, "All of you stand up," she modestly rejected, "It's nothing special, I just look after most of the spirits of this forest and they still call me guardian. No need to be so formal." "Guardian!" Yue exclaimed urgently, "There are ships off the west coast, the Water nymph spirits are holding them off for a short time but they can only do so much." Sakura worriedly gave Yue an expression of, "Are you serious?" "It also appears that the human invaders have learned to strengthen their ships to pass our torrential waters and storms." "Let's go!" Sakura commanded, "We have to get there before any of the human invaders land."

            Sakura clasped her hands together and put it over her mouth, creating a megaphone. Taking a deep breath, she then erupted with the highest pitch sound she could create. "Tweeeeeeee!!!!" The piercing sound resonated in the air. Syaoran covered his ears from the incredibly painful sound. The sound, heard far away by a spirit living in the mountains responded back to Sakura's call, "CAW!" Sakura stuck her arm up in the air as a fast approaching blue object started coming closer and closer to her. Sakura then jumped and immediately landed on top of a huge indigo bird. "Great job Tori! Now let's go to the west coast, we have to help Shui (pronounced 'schway')." 

Yue and Kero followed closely behind, leaving Syaoran looking up to them. "Hey!" he shouted as he heard his echoes, "Let me come along!" Syaoran cupped his ear trying to hear a response. "No!" replied Kero's voice, "It's too dangerous, and besides, what good will you do to the forest?" Syaoran felt horribly insulted. "What good?" Syaoran rolled up his sleeves getting peeved as the statement repeated in his head, "I'll show you what I can do!" 

"Fire!" Eriol shouted. The blasting of cannonballs from the side of the ship hit the thick one-hundred year old trees all lined up protecting the inner forest. Eriol saw his men quickly grab another cannonball and load it into the cannons. "Fire!" he said again. The sounds of endless explosions erupted and echoed, scaring off the birds that perched atop the trees. 

"Ahhh!" a man shouted as he was pulled overboard by a watery tentacle. "Man overboard!" Eriol stated, "The Water spirits are here, do something about it." The crew began to collect pails of waste and excrement and started dumping it into the water. "That should get them!" Eriol replied with confidence. Suddenly, a water spirit erupted from the water and fell into Eriol's ship. She squealed in pain on the ship, Eriol stared at her transparent figure and saw the convoluted trash lodged into her body. "I beg your forgiveness, Water spirit." Eriol closed his eyes and sincerely repented for doing what he accepted.

England, Two Months Ago…

            "Daddy!" a short cute little girl ran up to her father, raising her arms in the air begging for him to pick her up, "Daddy hug!" Eriol bent down and picked her up, feeling her dark red hair tickle his hands picking her up. "My little moonshine, Nakuru," Eriol cuddled his daughter close to his cheek, "Will you promise to be good to you mother?" Nakuru replied with a happy smile and nod. "Good girl!" Eriol gave her a heartfelt hug.

            "Eriol," a voice called out as Eriol opened his eyes. "My beloved wife," Eriol stated looking at his beautiful Japanese wife, "Don't worry Kaho, I promise I'll return as soon as I can." Kaho walked up to him and hugged him, "You have to come back," she said, "You just have to, I don't want my husband dying because of some stupid sea battle, please return home safe to me." Eriol lightly pushed her away from him, "Don't you worry Kaho," he reassured her, "I've only accepted the job from her majesty that I would help Japanese Lord Bukai recapture the land to the west." 

            Kaho turned around and started to cry. "What's the matter my dear?" Eriol gave concern. "It is said in Japanese myth, that the lands to the west belong to the spirits. If you ever disturb the land, then you shall be cursed forever." Eriol slowly turned around his wife and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "No curse could ever separate me from you and Nakuru." Kaho gave him one final hug before he left the door. 

            "I promise I'll be home," he said as he waved goodbye, "And Nakuru." "Yes?" Nakuru responded. "I promise I'll give you a new friend for Suppi!" "Ok daddy!" Nakuru waved goodbye. She then looked at a cat-like plush toy she carried in her arms, "You hear that Suppi? Daddy's going to get you a new friend."

            Eriol opened his eyes, hearing the sound of bursting cannon fire. "I made a promise to you Kaho, Nakuru," Eriol reassured his victory by fastening his sword on his belt, "I will return." Eriol put his foot on top of the mast and scanned the coast of the forest. Suddenly, he hears a loud caw and immediately snaps his head up.

            "Mamoru!" a voice yelled out, "Protect us!" The cannons shot in unison, however, they did not hit any of the trees or coastline. The cannons hit the encompassing shield, exploding the cannonballs in thin air. Yue and Sakura pulled out their bow and arrows and shot it towards the ship approaching inland the coast. "Sink the ships," Sakura told Yue, "But don't harm anybody." Yue gave Sakura a sour face, "You don't tell me what to do when it comes to humans!" Sakura shrugged off that statement and began to fire her arrows. 

            "Abandon ship!" said the captain of the first ship coming close inland. The crew immediately jumped off the ship and into the waters. At the same time, Yue's arrow capsized the entire ship with one single hit. Eriol saw this predicament in his own ship, sadly seeing his good men cowardly swimming away from 'Spirit Forest'. "Captain," Eriol's watchmen called, "We are the last ship. What should we do?" Eriol looked at the barrage of arrows hitting the hull of his ship. 

            "Sakura," Kero called out, "I'm going to light that whole ship on fire!" Kero waited for Sakura's confirmation. Sakura saw the proud captain in the ship, staring at Sakura with the most determined eyes she's ever seen. "Hit the hull," she commanded, "That will be their warning shot. If they don't abandon ship, then the ship will capsize at least." Kero nodded his head and took a deep breath. Suddenly, Sakura saw something swimming in the water, "Kero-chan stop!" In panic, Kero spit out a huge fireball, squarely hitting the hull, "What's the matter with you Sakura?" Sakura only stared at the figure climbing the burning hull of the ship. "Syaoran! NO!" "That idiot!" Yue cursed.

            Syaoran dug his nails in the little crevices of the hull, trying so desperately to climb up on the ship. Syaoran heard screams of the crew members who desperately jumped out of the ship, nearly taking him down back into the waters. Syaoran held on continuing to climb up as each man fell down.

            "Captain," Eriol's watchman asked worriedly, "Are you coming or not?" Eriol turned to his watchman and shook his head. "I will make sure all of you leave before I do, tell everyone to abandon ship at this moment." The watchman nobly bowed and went on his way. "Eriol!" Syaoran shouted from behind him. Eriol slowly turned around, getting a good look at Syaoran. "Oh," he said remembering him, "It's you stranger, I never thought I would see you here." "Shut your mouth Eriol," Syaoran snapped, "You have to stop this now. You're attacking my friend's home and I can't let that pass." Eriol shut Syaoran out by turning around and walking away, "I don't have time for this."

            Syaoran feeling insulted, ran up behind Eriol and pulled his shoulder. Suddenly, Eriol turns around, lashing his sword at Syaoran. Syaoran stumbled back a bit after seeing his shirt have a clean vertical cut. "You think you have a reason for protecting the forest?" Eriol asked rhetorically, "I have a better reason to take it down." Syaoran gave Eriol a snare. "I can't return home until I have accomplished her majesty's mission. So if you'll excuse me--" "Can't let you do that!" Syaoran interrupted, "You're not going to get 'Spirit Forest', I'll assure of that!" Eriol closed his eyes and put his sword back in its sheath.

            "Do you have something you fight for stranger?" Eriol asked. Syaoran was slightly confused about the question, "Yes," he replied, "I fight because I need to respect the wishes of my fallen comrades." Eriol lashed out his sword again, this time facing it by the sharp end and putting it in between his face, making a perfect symmetrical view of his straight face. "I fight for this sword, which sheds the blood of my enemies," Eriol said honorably, "But the blood it spills is to protect my wife and daughter. I will keep fighting to stay alive, for their sakes." Syaoran gave Eriol a sympathetic expression, "I'm sorry," Syaoran said, "You have direct family to tend to, which I cannot compare my cause. But Eriol, the 'Spirit Forest' is a sacred place, if you leave now you can see them again instead of burning in this ship alive with your ambition to take 'Spirit Forest'." 

            Eriol thought about Syaoran's statement, in his mind, it only processed a flat rejection to the thought due to his honor. Eriol simply placed his hand on a fallen sword on the ground and tossed it to Syaoran. Syaoran looked at the sword perplexed. "We shall duel," Eriol stated as Syaoran was shocked, "I shall fight for my family and you shall fight for the 'Spirit Forest' protection." Syaoran shook his head, "Eriol, I'm not going to fight, I refuse to!" Eriol snared at Syaoran, "I will not allow you to insult my honor like so. If you refuse to fight then I will take 'Spirit Forest' after I have defeated you."

            Syaoran, faced between a tough decision, picked one that would be in the favor of Sakura. Syaoran took a sword stance, putting his index and middle fingers out while having the sword above his head pointing at his opponent. "Tell me your name stranger," Eriol demanded, "Every honorable duel begins with both men knowing each other's name." Syaoran squinted at Eriol, "Syaoran," he said, "Syaoran is my name." Eriol nodded his head in approval, "Then allow me to begin the duel, with my loyal sworn oath I say before I take people's lives." Eriol had his sword put between his face and closed his eyes, solemnly saying his oath like a prayer. 

"By the name of her majesty, God, the country, and my family, I Eriol, will duel with the noble Syaoran. May whoever who wins the duel kill their opponent swiftly and honorably. This is my solemn oath," Eriol opened his eyes and stared at Syaoran, "En garde!" Syaoran and Eriol stared at each other, staying frozen in their fighting positions. The poles on the ship began to crackle under the raging fire, burning the foundation until the pole began to make a light creaking sound. The pole slowly inches closer to falling…BAM! The sudden sound indicates the beginning of the duel, Syaoran and Eriol both rush at each other, pointing their swords at each other while charging. Their inch closer and closer, their swords cross, and the sound of hard metal hitting resonated with the light crackling of the fire. 

Eriol charged at Syaoran as his back was turned and started to fence Syaoran, continually trying to punishing Syaoran with quick pokes and horizontal swipes. Syaoran dodged each poke by moving out of the way and deflecting the swipes with his sword. Eriol continues his offensive techniques to push Syaoran further back. Syaoran inched closer to the edge of the ship. Suddenly, a plank from underneath Syaoran burns and begins to crackle. Eriol gives one hard vertical swipe, swinging up to down, trying to split Syaoran in half. Syaoran wisely puts his sword above him, blocking the attack. The recoil however, pushes his whole body weight down, making him break the plank underneath him. Syaoran barely manages to catch the edge of the floor before falling. Syaoran is helpless, Eriol stares at him holding on for dear life, trying not to fall down.

Then, in an honorable fashion, Eriol sticks his hand out and assists Syaoran to get up, "I will never allow you to be so easily defeated."  Syaoran gives him a look of gratitude and puts his sword in fighting position again. This time, Syaoran goes offensive while Eriol defensively blocks his low sword strikes and confusing twirls. Syaoran drives Eriol back a bit until Eriol strategically broke into Syaoran's offense and trying to drive a poke in the middle of his stomach. Syaoran quickly turned to his side so Eriol's sword stabbed right through his clothes. Syaoran in turn, dropped his sword and punched Eriol squarely in the face, making him drop his sword. 

Eriol gets on his knees and hangs his head low for letting his guard down. He slowly wipes the blood coming out of his mouth and jerks his head up to see Syaoran in a fighting stance. "So you want to brawl?" Eriol asked politely, "Then come on, I didn't start all those pub fights for nothing." Eriol slowly removes his captain uniform, now wearing a nice frilly suit. He slowly undoes his cuff lings on his wrists and rolls up his sleeves. Eriol then bends his head low and pulls up his arms in a boxing position. "Let's go!" he said.

Syaoran carefully pivoted side to side, trying to confuse Eriol. However, Eriol just waited for him to approach. "Closer, closer, closer," Eriol thought in his mind. Suddenly, Syaoran pulled the first hit by quickly snapping his hand towards Eriol. Eriol ducked the hit and tried to deliver a right uppercut. Syaoran saw this and quickly turned sideways, dodging the uppercut and returning a back roundhouse to Eriol's left side. Eriol used his left arm to deflect the kick. Syaoran then grabbed Eriol's right arm, rolled over his back, and kicked him on the left side of the face after he landed on the other side. Eriol shook the pain off and threw a left hook at Syaoran. He quickly blocked it with his right palm, but Eriol grabbed his hand. Eriol then delivered a right hook and Syaoran in turn used his left palm to defend, but Eriol grabbed that too. Eriol then crossed Syaoran's arms together and head-butted him in the forehead. Syaoran stumbled back a bit dazed. 

Eriol rushed in and grabbed Syaoran by the collar and repeatedly punched him in the gut continuously. Syaoran sporadically spit out the blood after each punch, until he finally put his hands on Eriol's punch, and threw it back to Eriol's body. Syaoran then returned the favor by kneeing Eriol continuously in the gut. Eriol began to spit blood sporadically too; even his glasses shook off his body after spitting so much blood. Syaoran then pulled his balled up fist back and unleashed a punch. Eriol's reflexes made him duck the punch however. He grabbed Syaoran's arm and tossed Syaoran to the nearest pole, Syaoran's back hit the pole hard. 

Eriol tried to catch his breath after the difficult fight. Syaoran got back up on his knees and tried to regain his breath after the wind got knocked out of him. "Well fought Syaoran," Eriol complimented, "But this doesn't end until one of us is dead." "I agree!" a different voice shouted. Syaoran snapped his eyes open after hearing the familiar voice. 

All of the sudden, a shining metallic object passes right through Eriol's heart, instantly making the honorable man fall face first on the ship's dirty wooden ground. "ERIOL!" Syaoran yelled. The fire behind Eriol's body began to wane showing two figures Syaoran looked at with disgust, Greed and Envy. "Syaoran," Greed saluted, "I was wondering where you've been, and it looks like we finally found you." "What do you want with me?" Syaoran demanded to know. "Oh nothing!" Greed playfully joked, "We just want the sin inside of you." Syaoran gave Greed an angry look, "WHAT SIN!?" Greed began to chuckle, "You'll find out soon enough." Greed walked away leaving Envy behind. Syaoran stared at Envy with utter resentment. "I've come to give you a warning," Envy stated, Syaoran gave him a menacing stare, "The five sinners will individual try to capture you. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but we are going to hunt you down by ourselves. The glory will be mine however." Syaoran saw Envy beginning to walk away as the fire started to rekindle but instead of the crackling of the fire, the sinister laughs of Greed are heard.

Syaoran ignores the laughs and rushes by Eriol's side. "Eriol!" he shouted shaking him awake, "Eriol! Wake up Eriol!" Eriol slowly opens his eyes and sees Syaoran tearing up, "You can't die, good men can't die!" Eriol smiled at the compliment Syaoran gave him and simply replied, "I am not a good man," he said sadly beginning to sob, "Not only did I forsake my family's promise to them, but I didn't honorably duel you to the end. Forgive me." Syaoran grabbed Eriol's wrist, feeling his pulse dwindle each second. "No Eriol!" he stated, "Don't die!" Eriol wasted little time talking and tried his hardest to pull something out of his pack on his hip. He pulled out a little white cat plush toy that had a note on it saying, 'To Nakuru:' Syaoran looked at it perplexed, but Eriol surely began to explain with his last words.

"That is a toy for my daughter," he said as he began to cough out blood, "Give it to a friend of mine back at Kyushu post. The name of my second-in-command is Vung. Find her and tell her to deliver it to my daughter." Syaoran agreed by nodding his head, "I promise you, I will do that!" "Thank you!" Eriol replied, "When I am in heaven looking down upon you, I will pray to the lord that you will never be lost again my friend Syaoran…" Syaoran's eyes began to unleash small rivers of tears. "I will tell the lord, may Syaoran, the stranger from the west, never be lost agaiiiiiiiiiii--" 

Syaoran heard Eriol's last breath of life. He closed his eyes having the tears pour out even more. In one reverberating scream, Syaoran howls like he has never howled before, for a fallen friend, and an honorable man, Eriol.


	9. The Mother Tree

Shirin no Kami

Chapter 8: The Mother Tree

            The silence filled the air of the normally harmonic 'Spirit Forest'. A forest where birds and animals are busily scurrying about, it was now a quiet funeral for the recently departed soul of one honorable man who risked his life for a stranger of the west. Syaoran nobly got down on one knee and placed two beautiful flowers on an ugly rock, makeshift of a grave for an honorable man, Eriol. "Eriol," Syaoran lightly whispered, "I won't ever forget what you have done for me, and I promise I will deliver that gift to your daughter, I will make sure of that."

            "Humans are so strange," Yue said as he lightly dropped out of thin air, Kero and Sakura followed him close behind, "You are all the same, praying for people who do unrighteous things." "He was not unrighteous!" Syaoran snapped, "He was honorable, a family man, someone who was fighting for a just cause." "Hmm…" Yue humorously chuckled, "How can it be just to follow orders of a corrupt man?" Yue slowly walked away, Syaoran giving him a mean face as he slowly walked away. 

            Syaoran then turned back to Eriol's makeshift gravesite and clasped his hands together, praying for his deceased comrade. Sakura took two steps forwards, about to tap Syaoran on the shoulder. Instead, she only lightly called out to him, "Syaoran?" Syaoran lightly turned his face to Sakura, "How can you feel sad for someone you never really knew?" Syaoran gave Sakura one of his most sympathetic faces he could. "I envy you," Syaoran said lightly getting back up and passing Sakura, "You never had an innocent person die before your very eyes."

            Sakura thought about Syaoran's statement. She turned around, seeing Syaoran stare at her emerald green eyes, "I don't understand Syaoran," she choked, "Why can I not feel what you feel?" Sakura herself began to tear up, "Does that mean I'm not even human?" Syaoran didn't know how to comfort Sakura; he was hurt seeing that he hurt her by making her wonder about her origin. In panic, Syaoran lightly embraced Sakura, feeling the warmth of her body gradually. Sakura widened her eyes, unsure of the feelings she was now experiencing.

            She was caressing the body of someone other than herself, someone who felt just as much pain and torment as she had ever since she was a child living in 'Spirit Forest'. Sakura slowly pushed Syaoran away, looking at his amber eyes. "Syaoran, I want to take you somewhere," Sakura offered, "I want to take you somewhere but you must promise to me that you'll never go there." Kero approached the two and warned Syaoran, "The place where we are going to take you. It's a place where nobody knows about. If anybody but the spirits of this forest know about this area, our lives will be in jeopardy. Only if you promise to never reveal our secret will you be allowed to proceed further." Syaoran took a good look at Kero giving him a growl. Then he turned his face staring at Sakura's eyes. "Alright!" Syaoran replied, "I'll do it, take me there." 

            Sakura lightly hopped on Kero's back and offered her hand to Syaoran, "Ready to go, Syaoran?" Syaoran openly accepted her hand and grabbed it, jumping on top of Kero's furry back. "Alright," Sakura happily smiled, "Kero-chan, take us to mother!" Kero obediently nodded and stood up straight on all fours. "Okay, all passengers," Kero roared like a automated message, "You are now boarding Kero express, courtesy of me, Kero-chan. Grab onto the fur hold onto your hats because we might experience a bit of turbulence. We thank you for choosing Kero Express now here we GO!" 

            In a mere matter of seconds, Kero shot up into the sky, higher than anything else. Higher than the trees, higher than the clouds, higher than even the very blue sky, Kero then sprinted forth in an amazing speed that even birds could not fly to. Sakura took her arms and flapped them out, feeling the wind caressing her body all over. She sniffed in the fresh air, letting her senses sooth and mellow into a state of blissful ignorance. Syaoran felt the wind lightly massaging his face, yet, he didn't enjoy it as much as Sakura did. "I don't understand," he told her, "Why are you so happy?" Sakura her eyes looking at Syaoran with a goofy face, "You're joking right?" Sakura turned herself around so she sat backwards staring at Syaoran square in the eyes. "Well," Syaoran replied, "I honestly don't see what's so fun about all this air, all this height. I mean, doesn't it scare you?"

            Sakura slapped her head, after hearing the most insulting comment she has ever heard in her life. "Syaoran, you're such a stiff. You should learn to live a little," she stated as she instantly put her hands on Syaoran's arms and squeezed him, "LIKE THIS!" Sakura threw herself and Syaoran off of Kero's back, freefalling through the sky like leaves caught in an updraft. Syaoran screamed for dear life as he fell faster and faster towards the ground. Just as he began to close his eyes at the horrific nightmare, Syaoran felt a soft hand grab him, a soft reassuring hand which made him lightly open his eyes. Magically, Syaoran was floating in the air, feeling the flowing air through his chestnut brown hair. "Hey," Syaoran marveled as he looked down at the miniature lush green forest beneath him, "This isn't so bad." He looked at Sakura, giving him a reassuring smile, "I told you so!" 

            Sakura and Syaoran held on tighter, trying to balance themselves floating in the air by spreading out their free arms. Sakura and Syaoran took a deep breath in unison, immediately relieving their tension and freeing their minds like nothing ever did before. Feeling so happy and relieved, Sakura shouted out in one ear piercing scream of joy, "WOOHOO!" At that sound, Kero's keen ears picked up her joyful scream, he swooped down below Sakura and Syaoran and plopped them onto his back again. Sakura and Syaoran stared at each other for a while, their hair ruffled and nappy due to the wind. Sakura saw Syaoran with a dumbfounded look on his face and she began to giggle gradually turning into chuckles, finally ending in laughs which she clutched her splitting sides.

Sakura had never felt so happy in her life showing Syaoran how to enjoy the comfort of the air. Eventually, Syaoran's dumbfounded and confused look turned into a slight smirk. Sakura blushed at the sight of him finally giving out his first smile, "See," she said, "Now wasn't that fun?" Syaoran gave Sakura a big smile, "Yeah!" "Sakura," Kero called out, "We've arrived." Sakura turned around and grabbed onto Kero's fur coat. "Alright," she pointed towards a lush green open area, "Land there!" Kero lightly swooped down, landing perfectly on all fours on the soft grass. Kero dipped his head low, letting Sakura and Syaoran off of his back. "Sakura, I'll be back," he stated, "I have to go and bring the sun down." 

Sakura nodded, "Okay, see you later Kero-chan!" Kero lightly flew away from the clear opening and into the sky. "Let's go Syaoran!" Sakura grabbed Syaoran's hand and pulled him into a dark forest area. Syaoran looked around, seeing the trees cover the sunlight, making the ground nothing but a desolate area covered with vines. "This place gives me the creeps," Syaoran said as his spine tingled, "Why is this part of 'Spirit Forest' so dark?" Sakura pulled him in closer as it got darker, "So people can't invade the true beauty inside." Sakura took Syaoran deeper and deeper into the forest, changing the atmosphere darker and darker. Syaoran slowly looked around, seeing nothing but total blackness. In an instant, that entire blackness was illuminated by a single flickering light at the end of the darkness. Sakura pulled on Syaoran's hand, running faster and faster into the light, finally reaching it in a matter of seconds.

"Amazing!!!" was the only word that came out of Syaoran's mouth as he gaped his eyes open at the room before him. A huge area, protected by tall trees everywhere, blocked out most of the sunlight. However, light glowing fireflies lit up the room and the small ponds seen everywhere around the trees. Syaoran cautiously took a step, trying not to step on any of the beautiful environment. Suddenly, he heard a splash. "Come on Syaoran," Sakura shouted waving her arm as she was knee high in the water, "Follow me!" Syaoran slowly pulled up his pants so they wouldn't get wet, however, Sakura impatiently just grabbed him and treaded him along the water. "JUST COME ON!" she scolded making him went the pants up to his knees. Syaoran felt kind of embarrassed, but he blushed as Sakura just silently pulled him along. "We're here!" 

Syaoran was brought into a secluded area even more beautiful than before. The huge tree in the center of the room caught Syaoran's eye. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, "This tree must be a hundred years old…" "Actually, 2,000 years old, young stranger," an old maternal voice echoed in the room. Syaoran, alarmed at the loud voice looked around the room to see where the voice was resonating from. "How are you today mother?" Sakura cheerfully asked with her hands behind her back, "Mother, this is Syaoran!" Syaoran looked around to see who Sakura was talking to. Slowly, but surely, a light green spirit came out of the tree, lighting the whole room with a light green glow. "I see!" she said, with her wise eyebrows rising, "This is the handsome boy you have brought to 'Spirit Forest'?" 

"Mother!" Sakura embarrassedly snapped. The spirit slowly floated up to Syaoran, she slowly examined him with her partially closed eyes. Syaoran saw her gentle figure, a small spirit about half the size of him, with an old motherly face and a short fat body. She had her hands put behind the back of her vine-like robe. "Welcome Syaoran," she said with a motherly tone, "Welcome to 'Spirit Forest'." Syaoran bowed down to her humbly, "It is an honor to stay at such a place filled with beauty and life, oh wise tree spirit." The tree spirit gave Syaoran a sour face, "Tree spirit?" she asked with humor, "First off, have a seat." The moss on the logs behind Syaoran began to glow, giving a welcoming feeling to them. Syaoran sat on the tree log, Sakura sat right next to him, brushing up a bit against him causing him to blush. "Good, I hate it when people bow down to me. It's so…formal." the tree spirit said, satisfied, "And another thing, 'wise tree spirit' sounds formal too." 

"Then what should I call you, oh wise tree spirit?" Syaoran asked politely. The tree spirit chuckled a bit, "Oh you can call me mother if you feel like it. But if you want to be formal then you can call me…" the spirit paused for a while, having Syaoran at the edge of his seat, "Mue!" Syaoran gave her a perplexed expression, "Mue?" he asked, "As in 'tree'?" Mue nodded her head, "Mue will do quite nicely for me." Syaoran accepted her name and repeated it to himself just to make sure he got it right, "Mue…" he said, "Your forest is simply magnificent. I've never seen a place with so much beauty isolated from the world." Mue gave a smile, "Why thank you Syaoran!" she replied, "But did you really come here just to examine the forests?"

Syaoran hung his head down in disappointment, "No," he said coldly as he felt he was using the forest for selfish reasons, "I am confused about something. But I feel it is not right to selfishly ask you about origins." Mue looked at him sadly, "What confuses you child?" "Everything!" Syaoran snapped, "I don't know where home is, I don't know who my family is, much less, I don't know who I am." Mue slowly approached Syaoran, seeing her offer him her guiding hand, "Touch my hand Syaoran," she offered, "But first, tell me what you remember to so I can read your deepest soul from that point." 

Syaoran recollected his thoughts, "I only remember up to when I was taken in by the residents of Daito Island. Before that point, it is all a blur." Mue had two vines come out of her robe, "Then take my hand child," she said, "Only then will you find the truth." Syaoran, feeling he had nothing to lose, touched the spirit's hand. Instantly, Mue emanated a white globe above her head, showing the whitest light from Syaoran's recessed mind. As Mue began to dig further into his thoughts, she began narrating as images magically manifested themselves to the room, making Sakura and Syaoran feel every experience.

"This is your home Syaoran. The place where you were born, Mount Kunlun!" It was like a huge mural painted endlessly around them, a huge mountain range floating above the clouds. From the air, huge patches of green are seen, and crystal waterfalls twinkle even in the farthest distances. Sakura and Syaoran saw this image of one of the most grandiose areas and marveled at the beautiful harmony. "The mountain itself is in a land far to the west beyond the humans of the land. This forest has managed to do the impossible, humans and spirits coexist peacefully." Sakura and Syaoran then were immediately surrounded by animals and plants growing around them at command, giving the lush tingling sensation to their heads as the plants grew on their arms. 

"But mother, why do we not see the spirits?" Sakura asked. "Because," she replied, "Unlike the humans here, they don't need to see them. They feel them with the heart, treating everything, even the simplest rock, like it had a spirit of its own too shy to show itself." Syaoran began to lightly feel strings tug at his heart, making him in total heaven. "The people who live here happen to have that same ambition as the spirits: to become immortals to help both spirit and natural worlds from the disaster of mankind." Syaoran and Sakura then saw a burning forest, the smell of animal flesh collected in their noses. They covered their noses from the horrible smell. "Then again, immortals always protected disasters at all costs. And this is what you have dreamt of always becoming, Syaoran." Syaoran and Sakura looked up into the sky, seeing an immortal wearing red robe and fan, using his fan to blow away the flames which ate at the forest's green colors.

Syaoran marveled at the immortal flying through the sky. He saw his free flowing attitude, his determined face, his strong posture; it made him so happy to see one in action. "Wow!" he gasped, "And how do I become an immortal?" "With training and discipline," Mue replied, "Your tribe in particular made the best immortals. You were trained in the immortal ways there." Syaoran began to worry, "If that's the case, why am I here?" Mue sadly looked away, "I'm afraid you can't return home." Syaoran defiantly shot up, "WHY NOT!?" he yelled as he heard his echo, "I deserve to be an immortal just like anyone else in the tribe." "You committed a sin Syaoran!" Mue snapped in an omnipotent voice, echoing even louder than Syaoran's, "The sin you committed was 'anger'. You killed your brother out of anger for losing a sparring duel, and for that, you were branded with a mark that shows your sin." 

Syaoran couldn't believe it, he wouldn't believe it. Finally, he took off his shirt; Sakura of course, blushed a bit, and stared at his left pectoral, seeing the mark which signified Mue's story. Syaoran finally, surrendered to the story which he believed untrue. "I could've been an immortal?" Syaoran said in disbelief, "I could've been an immortal!" Syaoran shouted as he banged his fists on the stone hard ground, "I want to go home!" he cried, "I want to go home…" Syaoran's tears streaked off his face and darkened two spots on the hard rock. Sakura kneeled down to Syaoran's eye-level, she stared straight into Syaoran's wet eyes and showed her most concerned face ever, ""You'll go home one day, I know you will!" Syaoran sniffed his tears a bit, rubbing his eyes against his arm. "How can I be cleansed?" he asked. Mue simply stated in one sentence that summed the cure to his affliction, "To prove your worth by overcoming you affliction, by living a life without sin ever again. Only then will you be cleansed."

Syaoran stood up with determination in his eyes, "They want a non-sinner?" Syaoran taunted, "I'll give them a non-sinner. I'll live my life in 'Spirit Forest', protecting its spirits and its beautiful nature, then I'll become an immortal in my own eyes." Mue and Sakura smiled seeing his never dying spirit. "Mue!" he called out, "Thank you!" Mue nodded as her response. "Sakura?" Syaoran grabbed Sakura's hands and held them close to his bare chest; Sakura blushed yet again, "I accept helping you with 'Spirit Forest'." Syaoran rekindled the dousing flame within his heart. His will to become immortal only pushed him further to become one through natural causes. If he shot his goals to become an immortal, but landed only in the status of hero, that would be good enough for him. Because to himself, being a hero was already qualified to be an immortal.


	10. The Sloth is Faster Than the Eye

Shirin no Kami

Chapter 9: The Sloth is Quicker than the Eye

            A shadow swoops over an unsuspecting deer. The deer looks up, sensing the smell of blood, but goes about running away as it finishes its meal. Slowly galloping away, the deer starts galloping faster, hearing swooping sounds from left and right. The deer finally stops as it reaches a dead end, a large tree log blocking its path.

            Suddenly, an unbelievably fast figure shoots through the forest, aiming at the deer galloping away for dear life. The fast figure lets out his most devilish smile and pulls his knife out of his pocket. The golden complexion of the sun's rays strike the knife, blinding the deer, stopping it in its tracks. In a mere matter of seconds, the deer's chances of running were too late. The figure drove the knife underneath its stomach, gashing it and killing it.

            The fast figure stopped and licked his lips. "Perfect," he said, "Everything is going the way I like it." The sick bestial man turned around and showed his face, Sloth. He plucked his knife out of the deceased deer and licked the blood off of the blade, tasting the sweet flavor of prey. "I imagine how Syaoran's blood will taste afterwards." Sloth walked away from the scene giving a sinister laugh, leaving a blood written message on the spot where the deer lay.

            "Unacceptable!" Yue shouted at Sakura banging his hand on the table, "I don't believe you convinced 'Mother Tree' that this…this…human can stay here!" Yue rudely pointed at Syaoran shaking his finger as he pointed at him. Sakura hung her head low, feeling as if she was guilty for her kindness. Syaoran quickly bolted up in front of Sakura and defended her, "Yue," he calmly said, "Sakura is not responsible. I convinced Mue to let me stay; Sakura had nothing to do with this."

            "Don't push yourself human!" Yue said with a growl, "I can't go against 'Mother Tree's word for letting you stay. But I'm not obligated to show you any respect." Just in the nick of time, before Syaoran and Yue would get into another heated argument, Kero dropped into the cabin casually. "Alright," Kero noticed the silent atmosphere as he went into the room, "Sunset should be coming in another 30 minutes courtesy of me." Yue turned to Kero, nodding his head, "I think it's your cue to bring the moon up Yue." Yue slowly walked out of the room.

            The built up tension cooled down after Yue left the room. Kero gave a sigh of relief, "Geez just what did go on in here?" Syaoran turned around and grabbed Sakura by the arms, lightly shaking her from her depressed state. "Sakura are you all right?" Syaoran asked worriedly, "Is it something Yue said?" Sakura picked her head up, realizing it was Syaoran; she shook herself out of the daze and nodded with a smile. "Oh Syaoran," she replied, "It's nothing. I'm alright I was just thinking about a promise I made to someone that I really regret." Syaoran gave a breath of relief, "Thank goodness." 

            Kero slowly tugged on Sakura's shorts with his teeth, "Sakura you have to go inspect the forest before nightfall," Kero reminded. "Oh yeah," she replied. She then turned to Syaoran, "Do you wish to make inspections with me?" Syaoran smiled a bit and nodded, "Sure."

            Pride stood up tall by the corner of Lord Bukai's living room and meditated. In the center of the living room coffee table, Greed sat in a sloppy position while picking his teeth with a toothpick. "Should we have really sent Sloth?" Envy asked as he was playing darts with his eye closed, getting a bulls-eye every time, "I mean, the guy is sick and all, but will you really think he'll get the job done?" Greed snorted with humor, "Sloth wasn't supposed to get the job done," he stated, "I'm leaving that to you Envy, he'll be a little warming up gift for my dear friend Syaoran. 

            Envy felt flattered that Greed trusted him better; he began to fix his long side burns trying to captivate Greed's attention. "What about the girl?" Envy asked, "Won't she help him? We know she's going to protect the forest at all costs." Greed confidently opened his eyes, giving Envy a cool stare. "Doesn't matter," he said, "That'll make it even more fun." 

            Sakura and Syaoran walked through the firefly lit forest, hand in hand. Sakura passed each of the night spirits, giving them a wave as she walked on by. Syaoran was perplexed, he looked at Sakura wave at spirits, but they never waved back, they only continued to do their business, ignoring the peaceful humans who were walking through the glowing pathway of the night moon. "Syaoran," Sakura called out, waking him up, "Say hi." Syaoran looked around at the spirits all staring at him; he didn't want to seem like an idiot waving to spiritual people whom normal humans can't see. But as he walked on further, the spirits gave him glaring stares that made him feel a bit uneasy. Finally, he complied by waving, making him totally embarrassed.

            Sakura looked at him and smiled. "Oh my gosh!" Sakura shouted covering her mouth. Syaoran wondered what the matter was and followed her closely to where she was running to. "What's the matter Sakura?" Sakura didn't answer him. She continued to run until she finally stopped right in front of Syaoran. Syaoran's curiosity made him peek out and see what was ahead. "Oh man!" he said dejectedly. Sakura couldn't bare the image any longer and buried her face deep into Syaoran's chest, trying not to see the horribly slaughtered deer before them.

            Syaoran saw the massacre of the deer, his guts spilled out, making a red wet rug on the ground beneath him. Examining the area carefully, Syaoran saw some letters drawn out with blood on the deer's blackened skin. "Got ya!" it read. Without giving it another thought, Syaoran quickly pushed Sakura out of the way. Suddenly, a shining blade came charging into the air, cutting the barren earth in half along with the log in front of the deer. Sakura fell on her left thigh, barely escaping the ambush. Syaoran looked around, covering his eyes from the dust that obscured his vision. "Sakura are you all right?" he asked. "Yeah!" she replied. 

            Syaoran tried to clear the dust by waving his hands, trying to waft it away. Suddenly, he saw a shadow. "Sakura is that you?" Syaoran stayed where he was, continuing to blow the dust away, "Something's not right here." The shadow disappeared as Syaoran looked away from a brief second. "Where did it go?" Syaoran turned around and saw two dilated eyes staring at him, complete with a crooked smile. "Sloth!" he yelled out throwing a punch. Sloth ducked into the dust, avoiding the punch and staying hidden from Syaoran's view. "Where are you?" Syaoran asked as he began to get annoyed, "Show yourself you coward!" As soon as Syaoran said 'coward', a sinister figure's laugh echoed in the dusty air. Syaoran cautiously turned around each time, looking for Sloth.

            "Aiee!" he screamed coming from Syaoran's right side. Syaoran tried to dodge it, but Sloth managed to slash the back of his clothes. Using his arm, Syaoran hit the air, intending to hit Sloth, but he managed to stay hidden in the dusty air. "Aiee!" this time, Sloth came from the left side. Syaoran tried to dodge him again but he slashed him across the chest. Syaoran clutched his chest, kneeling down as he was catching his breath. Sloth was above in a tree, right above Syaoran. Using his keen sense of smell, Sloth took a whiff of the air and smelled Syaoran's breath; he then gave another crooked smile and leapt from the tree. 

            "Aiee!" he screamed as he began coming down on Syaoran. His knife was poised, ready to sink into Syaoran's back; he came closer and closer to Syaoran. Syaoran turned around, surprised that Sloth was able to sneak up on him from behind. "My victory is assured!" Sloth screamed, "DIE SYAORAN!" All of the sudden, Sloth's knife was stopped by a shining dagger. Sloth shot his eyes open, his pupils getting smaller in amazement, "How could this be?" Distracted, Syaoran gave him a back kick under the chin, knocking him away. Syaoran wondered who had just saved him, only seeing the dagger over his shoulder. Another hand came into Syaoran's vision, it was Sakura, he took her hand and Sakura pulled him out of the dust cloud. Once out, Syaoran and Sakura began to run for their lives. "It seems we're at a disadvantage," Sakura stated, "He seems to know your scent Syaoran, so you're going to have to wear this for a while." 

            Sakura handed Syaoran a flower she plucked from her hairpiece. "A flower?" Syaoran inquisitively asked, "Why a flower?" Sakura and Syaoran paced themselves, running even faster. "This forest has those flowers everywhere," she explained, "If you wear it, then he can't smell your scent." Syaoran pinned it on his clothes, stepping on something in the ground as he ran. "What was that?" he thought as he ran even faster.

            "AIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" Sloth screeched from the distance, making the horrific sound fill the forest. The unbearable sound both hit Sakura and Syaoran's ear drums, making them ready to burst. Syaoran covered his ears screaming out the pain it strained on his head. "Argh!!!" he grunted. Immediately, the horrifying sound stopped. Syaoran and Sakura uncovered their ears and wondered why it stopped so suddenly. Unfortunately, the sound was only a decoy, because after hearing Syaoran's scream, Sloth rushed into Syaoran and started to slash him. Syaoran using his quick reflexes dodged the slashes by backing away at the right time. Sloth took a break, and stood in a crooked stance, his knife above his head, his piercing eyes staring at Syaoran. He licked around his mouth with his own tongue and gave another one of his famous crooked smiles.

           Sakura stepped in front of Syaoran with her dagger ready, trying to defend him from harm. In one quick rush, Sloth dashed toward Sakura. "Out of the way!" Syaoran shoved Sakura with the back of his arm got ready for Sloth's first knife slash. Sloth tried to slash Syaoran's head, he ducked, then he tried to cut his side, Syaoran quickly pulled his shoulder back to dodge the swing. Syaoran backed away slowly until his back hit a tree. Syaoran was frantic, he had nowhere to run, he had nowhere to go. Sakura pulled back her bow and arrow and aimed it at Sloth and let it fly towards the sadistic psycho. Sloth heard the piercing flight of the arrow and snapped his hand out, grabbing the arrow quickly before it hit him. 

            Sakura and Syaoran in unison shot their eyes open in disbelief. "Watch out!" Sakura shouted. Syaoran quickly ducked seeing Sloth swinging his knife towards Syaoran's head. The knife barely missed Syaoran and drove itself into the tree. Sloth tried to pull out the knife, but it was really in there, hard to get out. Not wasting his time, Syaoran grabbed Sakura by the hand and began to run with her again. Syaoran wondered about how Sloth could have possibly managed to catch up with them. "He can smell us," he told Sakura, "But he can also hear us. How do we beat this guy?" Syaoran thought about a weakness, he could find none. "Wait a minute," it finally hit Syaoran, "I got an idea!" Syaoran pulled Sakura in a different direction they were running to before. 

"Syaoran," Sakura covered the low tree branches hitting her in the head as she ran, "Where are we going?" Syaoran kept on dragging her along, not wasting his breath and letting Sloth catch up. "You'll see…" he simply stated. As they kept on running, Syaoran stopped into a huge pasture. The field was green for miles, no trees in sight, only tall soft green grass that reached the middle of their calves. Syaoran slowly slid in front of Sakura, protecting her from harm. Suddenly, Sloth erupts out of the forest and stops in his tracks. Syaoran and Sakura stood right in front of him, about three yards away, and he couldn't find them. He only perked up his ears and sniffed for a scent. "Just as I thought," Syaoran grabbed Sakura and moved out of the way as soon as Sloth heard him speak, "He can't see!" Sloth slashed the grass where Syaoran and Sakura were, but he missed. "I'll get you!" Sloth screamed as his eyes began to dilate again. Sloth randomly cut the grass around him, thinking he got Syaoran, but never hearing or smelling the rushing of either of their blood. 

Sloth's impatience drove him even more insane, he started leap about in the grass and cutting even more patches, still searching for Syaoran and Sakura who were just behind him. Syaoran pulled Sakura down, ducking from the slash that missed them entirely. Sloth continued to go on a rage, looking for his prey. "Where are you?" he shouted, "Come here you cowards!" Sakura took out her bow and arrow and aimed it at a close by tree. The arrow hit, making a loud sound as it hit the thick bark. Sloth reacted quickly and rushed toward the tree, attacking it with his knife. Again, the knife got stuck into the thick bark of the tree. Frustrated, Sloth cut off the string which tied his knife to his pocket at all times. 

"Now Syaoran!" Syaoran rushed into Sloth, turning around slowly giving a worried face. Syaoran tackled him into the tree, punching him quickly, getting his licks before Sloth could strike back. Sloth put his arm in Syaoran's face, covering him from attacking and putting some distance between the two fighters. With all his might, Sloth shoved Syaoran's face, making some distance to pull out another pocket knife. This time, Sloth waited for Syaoran to come again, so he could slice his head off. He waited for him, leaning against the tree, listening to Syaoran's footsteps approach closer and closer. "YOU'RE MINE NOW SYAORAN!" he screamed as he swung his knife. Syaoran stopped in his tracks, before he could deliver the final blow to Sloth; he stared in disgust as Sloth leaned on the tree with his knife in hand. 

Sakura saw the psycho, two feet away from Syaoran; the swing of his slash went too far apparently, as the knife drove straight into his own heart. Sloth slid down the tree, his blood drawing a streak as he slid down. His dying screams was enough evidence to tell himself that he had failed. With one last dying laugh, he departed from this world, a sinner to the end. Syaoran looked down on him, Sakura lightly putting her hands over his shoulders. "Is this someone to cry for?" she asked politely. "No," he replied, "He's not one to cry for, don't waste your tears. Let the vultures get him now." Sakura and Syaoran slowly walked away from the scene, Sloth started to turn into a pile of sludge that oozed the grass and killed it.

            As Syaoran and Sakura slowly made their way into the forest and out of the clearing, a lone figure walks up to the pile of sludge with his hands in his pockets. "Sloth," he said with a disappointed tone, "You always know you should keep your eyes open, but you're too lazy to do that aren't you?" The spiky-haired man put his hand into the icky pile of sludge, pulling something inside the muck. When he pulled out his hand, a shining ball of light twinkled into his hand. "Your speed will do quite nicely," he complimented, "After all, three sins down, four more to go." The figure showed his face in the pale moonlight, it was Greed, smiling as he put the sin into his mouth, devouring its fundamental wickedness.

            "Are you okay Sakura?" Yue asked with a concerned face. "Yes," she replied, "Thanks to Syaoran." Yue walked towards Syaoran with a serious face and stared at him, eye-to-eye. "Human!" he said with a harsh tone, "I thank you!" he said in a peaceful tone bowing down to Syaoran, "I have never met a human in so long with a good heart, you made me remember how peaceful a human heart can be." Syaoran picked Yue up, modestly refusing his thanks. "I'm not the one to thank," he modestly rejected, "Sakura saved me tonight, you should thank her. Your forest wouldn't have been saved in the first place." Yue accepted as he went to the door, Kero following close behind. "I shall see you at dawn," Yue said as he and Kero flew away.

            Syaoran was smiling as Yue flew away the cabin. Sakura stared at him smiling. "What's so funny?" he asked. "Oh nothing!" Sakura cutely replied walking to her bed in the room. "Well it's time to go to sleep, I'm exhausted." "Yeah," Syaoran smiled, "Good night!" "Good night!" Sakura replied, "Your bed is on the floor." Syaoran pulled the bed sheets as he was ready to fall asleep. He tucked himself in, closing his eyes as he thought about future plans. "This was the first," he thought, "But this certainly won't be the last. They'll keep coming, one by one, destroying the forest like Sloth did. Each one making more pain for Sakura and the spirits, and I'll be ready for them." Syaoran closed his eyes and began to drift asleep, dreaming dreams and goals beyond the troubles occurring now.


	11. Second in Command

Shirin no Kami

Chapter 10: Second in Command

            Everyday in the town of Kyushu post, Bukai is driven to domestic affairs at his house, too busy to have leisure time in the peaceful nature of his own home. Today however, is a different story. Bukai sat with his legs crossed, in front of the Japanese koi pond he had in his front yard, sipping his tea as the breeze lightly blew off his straw hat, revealing his receding hairline. "Ah!" he sighed in relief, "Such a fine day without disturbance. The four deadly sinners have gone out for a day in the town, I am here with my specially imported green tea, and the weather is just perfect to just be in peace today."

            "My lord," a guard called as he bowed down to Bukai. Lord Bukai gave an irritated face and squeezed his teacup until it cracked. "What is it now?" he asked impatiently. "An English sow wishes to speak with you. She says she has urgent matters regarding the whereabouts of her captain." Lord Bukai gave a confused expression; he thought all the English sea crew had died in their assignment to get 'Spirit Forest', a survivor made him even more suspicious of the captain's motive before dying. "Send her in," Bukai demanded. The guard walked away, to the front gate, opening it all the way.

            A beautiful young girl with her blonde hair tied in a ponytail curled on her front shoulder walked with dignity towards Lord Bukai. He stared at her curvaceous body in her blue naval uniform, giving a perverted smile as he stared at her bosom. However, the thought of her being an English woman made him stop staring; he began to glare at her. "Lord Bukai I presume?" she asked with respect. Lord Bukai nodded his head and gave her a sign to continue. "I am lieutenant Vung, of the house Emily. Her majesty has sent my captain and my fleet to assist you in capturing a land to the west known as 'Spirit Forest'. Is this true?" Bukai nodded, showing his hideous scar to Vung. "If this is the case, then why are my captain and my crew gone? What wild goose chase did you send them to, and why wasn't I notified?"

            Bukai turned away from her and looked at his koi pond, "I ask the questions around here," he stated with a tone of rudeness. "You're out of your authority Lord Bukai!" she snapped, "I may be a woman lieutenant, but I can be just as harsh as my captain, maybe even harsher." Bukai disliked such utter disrespect, however, like she said, he was in no authority to ask questions, he complied with answering her questions. "It is my sincerest apologies to say that the captain and the entire crew have died," he replied, "My men scouted the area from afar and found the ships capsized and bodies floating about our beautiful waters. It's a pity such English trash landed in our waters." 

            Vung was in total shock, the grief of hearing the deaths of her comrades were too great. "How?" she asked, "How could this have happened?" "The natural conditions were just too great for them, they couldn't reckon with nature's mighty force." "IMPOSSIBLE!" Vung snapped, "Eriol was a great commander. If anybody could've gotten through any storm, it would've been him. He's never failed a mission in his life." Vung began to break out into tears thinking about her departed friend and master, "That's just not possible!" She got on her knees, rubbing her eyes from the tears streaking down her face. Bukai with a conniving and sad face offered his hand to pick her up. "I am really sorry about your captain," he said dishonestly, "But now's not the time to mourn over lost friends, I think you should return home. But before you do, please accept this as my parting gift." Bukai placed some money into her open hand.

            Vung looked at Bukai's eyes, seeing through his pitiful attempt to be nice. "I can't accept this," she stated, giving the money back, "I cannot accept such gifts." She sniffed away her tears, "Thank you!" she said, "But I should take my leave now." She nobly bowed and walked out of the gate, Bukai giving her a cock-eyed stare as she walked away. "What's the matter?" Greed asked appearing behind Lord Bukai, "Who's the girl?" Bukai gave a wicked smile, "She's the lieutenant of the captain you killed." "Correction," Greed interrupted, "Envy killed him, I only killed the rest of those survivors who managed to make it to the water." Bukai cautiously showed a serious face, "Whatever," he said with an angry tone, "She knows something; we should take care of her as soon as we can, before she tries anything."

            Envy and Glutton looked around the pub; the smell reeked with the stench of sake and sweat, a dirty place which personified the character of the drunkards in there. "Finally," Glutton said with his stomach growling, "I was looking for a place where I could eat and drink again." Envy stared at the various men in the pub with disgust, "This place smells funny," he nonchalantly spoke, "Why do you even come to these places Glutton?" Glutton and Envy walked over to the bar counter, "Hey, this place is where I get some real-quality man-time. It's also a place where you can find yourself another man." Giving a humorous huff, Envy closed his eyes and put his hands in his pockets, "I only have eyes for Greed," he stated, "He is the only one who I'll respect. Any other man just won't do." 

            "Another drink please!" a soft glove stuck their index finger up, ordering another drink. Glutton heard the heavenly voice in his soft ear; he looked to his left, trying to find the source of the voice. Impatient, he got up and picked up people by the collar, tossing them aside. "Out of my way," he yelled throwing people across the room. "Oh Eriol!" Vung cried with her hair untied and messy, "Why did you ask me to stay? Why?"

Five days ago…

            Vung walked along the hallway, fastening the sword she had on her holster. She looked around the hallway, seeing the prestigious paintings of the admirals and naval officers who had come to Japan prior to her and Eriol. Her ears picked up the loud racket she heard coming from Eriol's office. "I've had enough of all these empty Japanese threats! I will not allow this to persist any further!" Vung heard a loud bang on the walls, "You tell Bukai that I'll only do this task for him, if he asks for anything else, then to hell with him!" Vung saw Eriol's office door burst open, the messenger ran off with his tail in between his legs by the stern yelling Eriol gave him. Vung slowly popped her head through the door, seeing Eriol still fuming from his yelling, sweating profusely too. "You wanted to see me captain?"

            "Yes!" Eriol calmly said offering his hand on the seat, "Please sit down." Vung nodded, Eriol took his seat and calmed himself down. "What's the matter Captain?" Vung asked with a tone of concern, "You don't look so good." Eriol took out his handkerchief and began to wipe his bloodshot red eyes. "I haven't seen my family in months," he cried, "The Japanese are abusing their privileges, continually keeping her majesty's service to serve as a defense." Feeling uneasy, Vung tried to cheer Eriol up by getting out of her chair and coming by his side, "Captain," she said, "I know that you haven't seen your family in ages. But hasn't Lord Bukai already granted that you go to 'Spirit Forest' at once?"

            Eriol thought about the statement, feeling Vung's comfortable gloves touch his two shoulder pads. "Lord Bukai is demanding in addition to 'Spirit Forest', he requests for my service for many more months." Vung gave an angry face, "That's not right!" she shouted, "He should know that you've already done enough and let you go!" Eriol nodded his head. Vung nobly bowed to the ground, holding Eriol's glove in her hand, "Please Eriol, let me take your place so that you may return home to see your wife and child again." Eriol stood up, shaking off Vung's comforting hand, "NO!" he defiantly refused. Vung shot her eyes open, unbelieving his response, "No?" she asked. Eriol walked up to a painting of an entire armada floating in the ocean, he stared at it. "Do you know the story behind this painting?" he asked Vung. 

Vung shook her head. Eriol began to explain, "Long ago, an admiral and his troops went off to fight a war across the seven seas. When he returned however, all his men except for him died. The only last surviving members were him, and his lieutenant," Eriol turned around looking into Vung's eyes, "I need you to stay here Vung. If anything happens to me or my crew, at least you'll be alive to tell our majesty of our deaths. Besides," Eriol took a pause for a brief moment, Vung wondered what he was going to say, "I don't trust Lord Bukai, he wants something else. 'Spirit Forest' is not enough." Vung didn't agree with Eriol leaving her behind. But as a loyal subordinate, she happily complied, "Yes Captain!" she humbly bowed, "I will not fail you."

            Vung was suddenly disturbed from her daydream by a foul odor right next to her. She looked to her right, seeing a huge rotund figure in front of her, overshadowing her with an insatiable hunger in his eyes. "What do you want?" she asked chugging down her cup full of wine, "Can't you see that I'm busy?" Glutton grabbed her by the wrist, picking her up a bit off of the seat, and began to sniff her clothes. "My, my," his tone was perverted, "Aren't you a sweet little thing?" Vung applied all her pressure and twisted her arm out of the big man's grip, "You smell like bloody vomit!" she exclaimed, tossing his arm back to him, "I'm leaving! I can't stand this place anymore." Glutton grabbed her arm again; pulling her closer to him, "Listen you foreign whore," he screamed, "Don't you know it's customary to kiss the first man who greets you?" 

            Vung got a bit peeved at his statement and twisted out of his grip again, "It's rude to call me a whore especially when you are so UGLY!" Vung put all her strength and kicked Glutton straight in the face, knocking him back to the far wall to the right. A man in a straw hat and cloak got out of his seat before he was hit by the fat stumbling man. Slowly, Glutton stumbled back as he tripped over the seat the man was just in, he fell over and made a huge imprint of himself into the wall. The other men in the bar began to get peeved that a foreigner was actually causing trouble in their pub, especially a woman! "That's it," the pub owner yelled in anger, "I can't stand foreign women in our pub for anything other than prostitution. Get her outta here!" Two scruffy men came and grabbed her by the arm; she simply slipped out of her naval coat and tripped them. They both fell over, face first into the sharp edge of the diner tables. Flipping tables and the sound of crashing silverware filled the air. 

            Every person in the bar, with the exception of Envy, glared at Vung with angry stares and clenched their fists, making the bubbles between their knuckles crack. "Why you little!" a man charged at her. Feeling his footsteps on the wooden hard ground, the slight rocking indicated his approach. She quickly turned around and threw him over the bar counter and made him crash into the drums of sake and wine. "GET HER!" everyone shouted. Vung gave a smirk as a huge mob started to surround her, "Oh yeah!" she exclaimed, "I never expected to start a bar fight here in Japan!" She slowly slid off her white puffy ruffled shirt, revealing the orange tank top she wore underneath. Her body was very curvaceous, but at the same time, strong and firm.

            "Let's go!" she said waiting for a man in front of her charging. She punched him square in the face which made him spit out what he had in his mouth. Some other guy came to her right; she kicked him below the belt. A guy grabbed her from behind; she elbowed his stomach and wrapped her arm around his neck. Using her leverage as she grabbed his head allowed her to flip the man over to another table which broke. Another guy jumped right towards her from behind screaming like a monkey. She calmly turned around, picked up a dish from a nearby table, and cracked it over his head.

            "Oh come on!" she said, "It's that the best you can do?" Her question triggered a huge earthquake which shook the entire bar. The teacups and dishes on the shelf fell over and cracked themselves. Vung slowly turned around and saw who was ready to fight her. "Alright fat boy!" she said with cockiness, "I'll make sure you apologize for calling me a whore." Vung bent her head down and put her arms up, in a boxing position. Glutton snared at her with his anger from her earlier assault on him. He rubbed his bald head and dusted himself off. "You'll regret not kissing me!" All the men in the bar circled around the two fighters, Vung and Glutton, the cheers unanimously cheered for only one of the competitors. "FAT BOY! FAT BOY! FAT BOY!" they cheered. Envy had enough for one day, he walked away from the scene with his hands still in his pockets. "Glutton is so stupid!" he insulted, "He knows he's going to demolish her, yet, he continues to fight with someone smaller and weaker than him. Pathetic, truly pathetic!"

            Glutton ran up to Vung, trying to grab her with his massive arms, she ducked underneath it and kicked him on the side knee. Vung wondered why he didn't fall down and kicked him again in the knee. Glutton slowly turned around, looking down on her and giving her a big smile. In panic, she got up and tried to punch into his gut really hard. No effect! She punched again and again and again. Still no harm! Glutton joyfully put his hand over her head, grabbing her entire body off of the ground. She put her hands over his large hand, trying to pry his fingers off her face. Her feet dangled two feet off the ground, desperately on its tippie toes to stand up. Glutton spread out his fingers wide enough to let Vung's eyes see his face before he did his final blow.

            "He he!" he chuckled. In one hard swing, Vung screamed as Glutton picked her up over his head, and plowed her into the wooden ground. The wooden ground broke as the back of her head drove into the hardwood, cracking it. Glutton took his hand off of her head, revealing the blood coming out of her mouth and her eyes bare white, she was unconscious. The doors to the pub opened, and out came the cavalry, Bukai's guards. "We heard there was a domestic disturbance here," the guard said, "Who started it?" Everyone in the bar pointed to a foreign girl all curled up and driven into the hardwood ground. The guards picked her up by the arms and legs; one guard took off the sword from her holster and carried it along with him. As the guards carried the unconscious foreigner away from the pub, Glutton stuck out his index finger and ordered his drink.

            Greed and Bukai stood side by side looking at the koi pond, the moment of silence captivating them as they stare at the koi pond with their own thoughts in mind. Lord Bukai broke the silence by speaking first, "Have you figured out who will go and get your boy next?" he asked, "After that speed psycho failed, I worry if you sinners are really all that's cracked up to be." Bukai suspiciously turned his head to look at the profile of Greed's face, "As a matter of fact, all of you have powers. But you never told me what your special ability is Greed! Just what is your 'great' power?" Greed smiled at Bukai's question, sensing the insecurity in his tone, "My ability is the best of all," he stated, "Ambition!" Bukai almost laughed from pity, "That seems like a lame power!" he insulted, "Everyone has a physical strength except for you. Why should they fear you?" The ignorance in Bukai's tone was priceless; Greed asked rhetorically, "I lead them, don't I?" Lord Bukai was at a loss for words. "Enough said!" 

            "Lord Bukai!" a group of guards called out carrying a woman wearing an orange tank top in the arms, "We caught this foreigner starting trouble at the local pub. What are your orders for the foreigner?" Bukai cupped the chin of an unconscious Vung. "See to it that this pretty little flower stays in the dungeon. Feed her everyday. When I have conquered 'Spirit Forest' I'll decide what to do to her…as a matter of fact, let's go fix a fine cell for her to rot in!" Bukai walked away, the soldiers following close behind.

            "That fool Bukai doesn't seem to know the extent of your power Master Greed," a shadow appeared out of the bushes behind Greed, "Nobody will truly ever recognize your powers except for me master." Greed turned to Envy, seeing him bow immediately. "I have something to give you," Greed started walking up to Envy, his blushing becoming more apparent. "Anything from you is something I will cherish forever Master Greed," the obsequious servant stated, "Anything of your picking is a blessing for me." Greed handed Envy a set of hanafunda playing cards, "I found these in Bukai's room," he stated, "He told me they are useless to him, and the sharp edges are a nice touch. Think you can use them to catch Syaoran for me?"

            "But of course!" Envy confidently replied with a smirk, "Anything for you my dear Master Greed." Greed walked away mumbling something under his breath. Envy was star struck, not only did his master give him something today, but also acknowledged him as the person to bring down Syaoran. "I promise you Master Greed," the fire in Envy's eyes burned, "I will catch Syaoran my way, the smart way. After all, how can one catch prey…" Envy pulled out the cherry blossom card, "…without bait?" Envy put the card in front of his eyes, already with a stratagem by merely looking at the cherry blossom card. "I am the second in command…" he said in a raspy voice, "…and the hunt is on…"


	12. Envious Hunter

Shirin no Kami

Chapter 11: Envious Hunter

            Sakura and Syaoran were cleaning their clothes since today was so peaceful. The sky danced with birds on the clouds and the breeze was ideal for spending a day out. The stream carried pristine clear waters; even the dirtiest rat could drink the blessed water and clean itself from a single sip. And thus, this was the perfect time and place for Sakura and Syaoran to do some laundry. Syaoran was rubbing out the stains of his brown robe on a grainy rock. His sleeves and pant legs were rolled up while the sun glisten water drops dripping off of his legs and arms. 

            Sakura was washing her brown vest and white skirt in the stream. The water passing through the small fibers and soaking it wet. She then spread it out beside her and pinned it upon a line so it could dry, right beside a blue vest that was already dry. She took it off the line and put it on, covering her belly on the sides. "Today is so great," she relaxed, picking up her basket, "I just love days like these."

            Syaoran was wringing the water out of his pants, "Yes," he stated, "Such a beautiful day." The breeze lightly messed up his hair a bit, "I wonder where Yue and Kero are." Syaoran looked into the sky, trying to see if one of them was flying through the sky. "It's strange," he asked suspiciously, "Usually Yue or Kero are flying through the sky patrolling the skies. Why not today?" Sakura picked up her basket and grabbed Syaoran's hand, walking away for their clothes to dry. "Maybe they are busy doing something."

            The scene was very picturesque: Sakura and Syaoran walking hand in hand, looking like two innocent kids walking in the field. Syaoran felt like he was in heaven, he held on to Sakura's hand tighter, but as he kept on walking, something in his subconscious began to tell him something was terribly wrong. "Sakura?" he asked, "Do you feel something funny?" Sakura thought about it for a second, wondering what the uneasy feeling was as they kept on walking through the thick trees. "Something is terribly wrong," she stated, "I cannot tell what it is though."

            "Syaoran! Sakura!" Kero called flying in from above, "Yue and I found something terribly wrong deep in the forest." Sakura gave a concerned face, "Oh my gosh! Where? What happened?" Kero shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know," his disappointment becoming apparent, "All I know is that Yue and I are investigating this manner, and we might need you to help us out Syaoran." "Syaoran?" Sakura asked, "Why him? Why not me?" 

            "It's something Syaoran should look at," Kero said, "Because there is message written to him." Concerned, Syaoran stepped over and got on Kero's back, "Let's go!" he said, "I need to see this to believe it." Sakura ran up to Kero and was about to jump on. Suddenly, Syaoran stuck out his hand, permitting her from coming any closer. "This is not safe Sakura," he said. Sakura stamped her feet as Kero began to fly away, giving a sour face as they flew away, "But I'm the guardian!" she cried out, "I belong there! Hey are you guys listening to me?" They were already gone; the only sound Sakura could hear is the sound of the chirping birds. "Hmph!" she pouted, crossing her shoulders, "This is so unfair!"

            Sakura turned her head away, angry and disappointed. However, the moment she turned around, she noticed something odd about the tree in front of her. She stepped closer, trying to get a good look at the odd tree, seeing something stuck into its trunk really hard. Somehow, she managed to pry out a hard rock, almost embedded into the tree. "Who did this?" she asked. Suddenly, she heard a rustle in the tree above her and she quickly snapped back, throwing out a rock up in the tree. 

            Five leaves shed off the tree from the rock strike, slowly descending to the ground. Sakura looked at the leaves, floating their way down to the ground gradually. All of the sudden, a hand popped out, catching all the leaves in the hand. It was perfect; Sakura saw the hand with so much grace, catching a single leaf between each of his digits. Sakura's mouth gaped open, finally seeing the person who tried to ambush her. In the blink of an eye, the hand threw the leaves towards her with speed and dead on accuracy. Sakura gasped, she certainly didn't want to get hit by the sharp bladed leaves. Finding the nearest tree, she quickly hid behind it, having the tree take cover for her. The sound of laughter filled the air.

"Ha ha ha! Great job! That was a warning shot, think you can take me?" Sakura slowly peeked her head around the tree, trying to see the source of the voice. "Oh you won't find me!" he taunted, "I can get you, but you can't get me." Sakura searched around for the nearest tree where she could hide. She peeked her head out again, seeing if the coast was clear. Sakura quickly dashed toward the next tree. FWWT! The sound of a sharp card struck Sakura in the cheek as she ran and made a tiny slice on her cheek. Sakura hid behind the tree again and touched her face, wiping the blood off her cheek. "Who is this guy?" she questioned herself, "He must be the one causing trouble in this forest." Sakura reached down into the dirt, grabbing a hold of a stubby wooden stick popping out of the ground. "I promised I would protect 'Spirit Forest'," a huge bow was pulled out from the ground, "And I'll do that!" 

Sakura took out a set of arrows she had hid inside the tree and slung the packet around her shoulder. "I have to make a distraction."

It was horrible. Syaoran, Kero, and Yue stared at a dead spirit lying on the ground. Syaoran saw the scorched earth beneath her and sadly kneeled down next to her. "May you rest in peace," he said sincerely, "Who could've done this?" Yue pulled out a card with a design of a cherry blossom on it; Syaoran took it from his hand and examined the card. "Anything you know about this?" Yue interrogated, "That was found on the spirit the moment we found her." Syaoran looked at the card questionably. "What is this?" he asked himself examining the card carefully. 

"What does this mean?" Syaoran turned the card around and saw the pictures of the cherry blossoms. "Cherry blossoms?" Syaoran thought about it for a moment, having the words repeat in his mind. "OH NO!" Syaoran dropped the card and ran away from the scene. "What is it?" Kero asked. But it was too late, Syaoran was gone.

Sakura picked up a rock on the ground and threw it. As soon as the rock was airborne, a card hit it and cracked it into tiny pebbles. "You think that can provide you a distraction?" the voice shouted, "They call me dead shot; I've never missed any targets." A card shot out from the side of the tree, slashing Sakura's shoulder as it cut through the bark. "Ah!" Sakura screamed clutching her shoulder, "This guy is a dead shot!" Sakura tried to stop the blood coursing out of her arm; she ripped off a shred of her skirt, tying the cloth around her arm really tightly. 

"Listen!" she yelled, "I don't know who you are! But you aren't a dead shot. I was born and raised here in 'Spirit Forest' and I'll protect it!" Sakura screamed again as another arrow came from the other side of the tree and cut a bit of her other shoulder. She winced and clutched her shoulder again. "You filthy wench!" the voice insulted, "Let's see you protect 'Spirit Forest' now with your two injured arms." Sakura sucked up the pain, and pulled back an arrow on her bow, she didn't want to peek out, as that would result in a shot to her again. Instead, she aimed her arrow at an angle, towards a far away tree. 

"Come out!" the man shouted coming out of his hiding place, "Let me see you before I kill you for my Master Greed." Envy, the assailant, aimed one of his cards toward the tree where Sakura was hiding. "I can wait here all day." Sakura took a deep breath, and held her bow steadily, "Here goes!" Sakura ran out, Envy's target locked on, he flicked his card toward Sakura, perfect aim as usual. Envy waited for the card to hit, Sakura ran for her life aiming the arrow as she was running. The card inched closer to Sakura's face, in a matter of seconds, the card would kill her instantly. She immediately perked her neck back. Amazingly, the card barely missed her cheek.

The card missed! Envy missed! "How could I miss?" he asked with his mouth and eyes gaping wide open. Sakura aimed carefully and let her arrow fly. Envy, still dazed from his missed shot, barely dodged the arrow, cutting his left cheek. "I missed?" he asked furiously, "I also got hit?" Sakura snared at him, Envy stared back into her eyes with utter discontent. "No one has ever hit me before!" Envy angrily glared at Sakura, "You'll pay! I'll never have anyone take my title of 'dead shot'!" 

Sakura began to get a bit worried, she quickly ran for cover at the nearest tree. This time, Envy was charging towards her, throwing his cards at her as he got closer. Sakura dodged his first attack and shot another one of her arrows. Envy tried to dodge the arrow but it ended up driving into his left arm. He screamed in pain as the arrow made his arm completely useless. "I'll get you yet!" he shouted shooting out another card. Sakura ran away from the card and it cut off a bit of her hair. 

Sakura fired off another arrow at him, this time aiming at his right leg. Envy stepped on the arrow as he ran over it. "I've got you now!" Envy charged and swung at Sakura, trying to knock her in the head. Sakura ducked and rolled behind him. Envy was confused for a second, the blood coursing out of his arm began to haze his vision, he couldn't see Sakura anywhere. Sakura smartly used this opportunity to find cover behind another tree. "Where are you hiding?" Envy's vision began to haze up even more as he looked around for Sakura. Sakura readied another arrow in her bow. As soon as Envy had his back turned, she would shoot the arrow straight into his heart. 

"Where are y--" Envy stopped as he saw Sakura's shadow on the tree in front of him, "Nice try!" he complimented, "But you can't get me that easily!" Envy saw a tree to the right. Using his keen skills, he aimed his card at an angle and flicked it towards the tree. The card ricocheted off the tree. Sakura heard his miss and peeked out, aiming her arrow straight at Envy. "You're mine!" she shouted. Envy just gave her a smile as he stood in shooting distance of her arrow.

Suddenly, the card which ricocheted off the tree, bounced off and hit Sakura in the back of her calf. The card dug deep into her calf, making her collapse and scream in pains of agony. Sakura clutched her leg and screamed for dear life. Envy looked at the curled up body of Sakura, clutching her leg. "That'll teach you!" he said, "No one crosses Master Greed!" "What about me?" Syaoran came out of nowhere and tackled Envy to the ground, "You scum!" he shouted, "First you attack that poor helpless spirit, then you attack Sakura. What are you trying to pull?" 

Envy popped out another sharp card from up his sleeve, "For Master Greed!" he shouted, trying to slash him with the sharp card edge. Syaoran dodged the slash attempt and threw him at a tree. Envy's body collided with the tree hard! Syaoran quickly turned around and saw Sakura all curled up and clutching her bleeding leg. "Sakura!" he shouted out, "I'm so sorry I'm this late! Are you okay?" Sakura was still screaming in pain from the card, Syaoran quickly pulled it out, stopping her from screaming in agony. 

"I'm sorry Sakura!" he apologized as he ripped off his sleeve and tied it tightly over Sakura's wound, "I should've been here." Sakura felt much better, she managed to push her upper body up to stare at Syaoran directly in his amber eyes. Envy got up, he stared at Sakura and Syaoran looking at each other, his eyes began to swell with tears, he began to feel a bit jealous. "Syaoran," she cried, "Thank you!" It didn't matter what was happening anymore, Sakura hugged Syaoran tightly for comfort. Syaoran hugged back with extreme content and reassurance, "It's ok Sakura!" he said softly, "I'm here, no one will hurt you anymore!" 

"No!" Envy said in disbelief, "Why?" he asked, "Why doesn't Master Greed treat me so?" Envy stared at Syaoran and Sakura still hugging and got even more jealous. "Why won't he love me so?" Envy got furious and charged, "It's all your fault Syaoran!" Syaoran heard his name and turned back; Envy's fist met his face and knocked him away from Sakura. "Syaoran!" Sakura cried. Envy strangled Syaoran and pushed him to the ground, continuing to choke off his air supply, "I'll kill you!" Envy threatened, Syaoran struggling as he gasped for air, "I'll kill you to make Master Greed happy, then he will finally see me and return my love. Greed, you won't regret this! I'll kill Syaoran! Ha ha ha ha! Ugh-" 

Envy stopped laughing as Sakura's arrow squarely hit him in the heart, he let go of Syaoran. "Master Greed." Envy struggled as he fell back, ".I will always be your loyal servant. Farewell!" Envy hit the ground, finally dying. Syaoran coughed, wheezing for air after his neck was strangled. Sakura crawled up next to him and patted him on the back. "Are you okay Syaoran?" she asked with a face of concern. "I'm fine!" he replied, "Are you okay?" Sakura nodded. "Thank goodness."

Syaoran stood up, grabbing Sakura by the hand and pulling her up to stand. "Ow!" she cried, "My leg!" Syaoran supported her by placing her arm around his shoulder, "It'll be alright!" he reassured. "Syaoran!" she hugged him tightly again, crying in his chest, "It's my fault. He wanted me to get to you. I'm so sorry!" Syaoran lightly patted her on the shoulders. He lightly cupped her chin and gave her a reassuring stare. "I'm sorry I wasn't here with you!" he apologized, "You could've died because of me." Sakura sadly turned away from him and looked at Envy's dead body, "I want to go home Syaoran!"

            Syaoran picked her up in his arms and began to carry her away silently. The silence grabbed her until she gradually fell asleep in his arms. "I'm sorry Sakura!" he apologized again, "It was all my fault!" Syaoran took one last look at Envy's body. He gave him a look of pity, a piteous look which showed sympathy for his sad life of servitude. Syaoran walked away from the scene, letting Envy to rot in the middle of the forest.

"Oh Envy! Envy! Envy!" Greed said in the silence of the night, "You always were very loyal, but sadly your heart always got in the way." Greed's sick smile reflected off of Envy, or what was left of him, "Your accuracy is a nice little thing to add to my collection." As Greed's hand approached Envy's head, pulling out his 'green' eye. "This is the sin of envy," he stated, "Their green eyes always blind them from getting the task at hand done." Greed gulped down the sin in his mouth. "Thank you Envy! You've been really great! Enjoy an eternity of torment in hell!" Greed gave a mocking salute to the dead Envy as his body began to fade away, "Farewell, you blind fool!"


	13. What is Love?

Shirin no Kami

Chapter 12: What is Love?

"I've lived here ever since I could remember. Kero-chan and Yue-san always looked after me, teaching me how to care for nature and the spirits so they could live in peace without the worry of humans taking their land. I've looked after 'Spirit Forest' and protected the many animals that live here so that they may live to see another day of this beautiful earth. All this time, I've looked after them, taught them, protected them, and even became their friends. I wonder. How come I never looked out to find my true humanity? Why was it so wrong to be with my people that I need to be here with the spirits? And most of all, how does it feel to be human?" 

Sakura contemplated all this in her head as she lay in her bed with her leg all patched up. She looked around the cabin, trying to find something to do to let the time pass as she let her leg heal. "Ever since Syaoran has come into my life, I've only questioned my humanity further. I keep on getting these weird feelings that I never got before. My chest gets heavy, my face turns red, and my head gets woozy. Just what is this funny feeling?" Sakura grabbed a long wooden staff right beside her and pulled herself off the bed. "I need to go for a walk!" she complained, "I can't be lazy and only let Syaoran look at the forest all by himself, he might miss something important."

Syaoran walked along the dirt path on the ground, checking all the trees and spirits in good shape. In his head, he wondered how such a beautiful place could be neglected by so many people. Suddenly, Syaoran smelled something pleasant to the nose. "What is that beautiful smell?" he asked, taking a detour off the main path. The trail of the smell was faint at first, but as he went deeper into the trees, the smell permeated the entire air. Syaoran kept on sniffing and sniffing, until finally, he reached a beautiful flower pasture. Everywhere you looked was an assortment of yellow, purple, and blue flowers. On the sides there were dandelions, which broke apart and made even smaller dandelions as the wind blew them.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, "This is one of the most beautiful detours I've ever seen. I bet you no human has ever seen this place." "You're wrong!" shouted a serious voice from behind Syaoran. Syaoran turned around and saw a white pair of wings flutter down into the center of the yellow pasture of flowers. "Yue," Syaoran greeted. Yue only gave him a serious face and looked at the flower pasture with Syaoran. 

Syaoran looked at him and sat down on a rock, viewing the flowers as he rested his chin on his hand. "Yue?" Syaoran began to ask, "Why are you so secluded from the rest of the world?" Yue closed his eyes from the pungent smell and tried to answer his question to the best of his knowledge. "Do you really believe that you are the first human who has been accepted to 'Spirit Forest'?" Although a rhetorical question, Syaoran nodded anyways. "You're wrong!" Yue calmly replied, "The 'Spirit Forest' was once a human territory, a place even more beautiful than it was today."

Syaoran could not imagine this: a 'Spirit Forest' even more beautiful than now? Syaoran simply could not fathom this possibility. "This flower pasture itself…" Yue paused, "…was grown and cared for by humans." Syaoran stared at Yue in shock, "Then does that mean there was a tribe here? Much like the one back at my home?" Yue chuckled a bit at the question. "I don't know about your tribe," he said, "But yes, there was a tribe here who coexisted with 'Spirit Forest'." Syaoran looked around the flower pasture, trying to find a grave, a human, or at least maybe some evidence that proved that a tribe existed. "Where are all the tribe members?" he asked innocently. Yue coldly gave him a look of sadness, "Sakura is the last one!"

Sakura gently supported herself on the staff and made her way to her favorite spot, an area covered with trees where all the animals and spirits would visit her each and everyday. Sakura lightly tugged on her skirt with her index finger and thumb and curtsied onto the soft green grass. Bending her knees and resting her bottom on her calves, she let her skirt spread out in a perfect circle. The animals and spirits then gathered together, resting atop her skirt and cuddling together in a unified fashion.

"Lucky spirits," she whispered, "You don't have to worry about what you are. You know your purpose and lifestyle. But me, I don't know what I am." Sakura saw two bunnies snuggling close together, with little tiny spirits in a yellow aura around them. "Sugoi!" Sakura cheered as she picked up one of the white bunnies, "There are Chibi spirits everywhere. You're going to have babies!" Sakura set the rabbit down next to its mate, "That's so great! You guys can have this feeling of closeness. Yet, I don't know how this feels like."

Sakura reached into her pocket and pulled out some acorns. The squirrel right next to her climbed up her shoulder and grabbed it. "What do you call that feeling of closeness?" she asked, "Why do you animals feel it but I can't?" "I think it's called love…" an unusual solemn voice said, "…I once remember Yue talking about it." Kero stepped out into Sakura's sight and snuggled close to her. Sakura put her hand on Kero's head, lightly massaging behind his ears. "So Kero-chan," she continues to pet him, "What brings you here today?" Kero gave a little purr as Sakura continued to nuzzle him. "It was really quiet," he said, "And I thought you might need some company since you can't do much today."

Sakura stopped nuzzling him and started to pet the animals. "What is love?" Sakura asked Kero seriously. "I don't know," he replied, "Must be some kind of human closeness feeling." Sakura didn't quite understand, "Like the closeness I have now?" Kero shook his head, "It's different," he said, almost experienced, "It's something that has to do with your own kind, not with other spirits and animals." Sakura stared at Kero dumbfounded. "OKAY!" he gave up, "I don't know what it is!" Sakura smiled as Kero pouted after being wrong. 

"You know what Kero?" Sakura called Kero's attention, "I've always wondered what love is too. It's like the last piece of knowledge I need to know before I truly realize what being a human is all about." Kero growled at that statement, "Sakura!" he said disappointed, "Humans are evil, just why would you want to be one of them." Sakura pondered this for a moment, "Are humans truly evil?" she repeated to herself, "Then wouldn't that mean, I am evil?" "No no!" Kero fumbled, "It's not like that!" he said shaking his hands, "It's just that, you are the exception Sakura! After all, you are the Guardian."

"What about Syaoran?" she asked, "Is he evil too?" The answer inside Kero truly wanted to say "yes." But then he thought about Sakura and her life. If he was really evil, would he save Sakura by putting his life on the line? Kero's bias tried to make him say "yes", but the fact was, "No!" Kero replied, "Syaoran is not evil either!" Kero and Sakura sat on the ground as they watched the rays of sunlight pierce through the canopy and light up their surroundings. "Why is my life so different to other humans? Why am I Guardian?" these questions eat Sakura up, making her confused about her own humanity. Kero looked at Sakura with a gazing stare, "I wish I could tell you everything Sakura," he said, "But only Yue knows the whole story." 

Sakura smiled at Kero's statement, "I don't care if I know now!" she stated happily, "As long as I live each day finding a bit of myself, I'm happy enough!" Sakura began to nuzzle Kero behind the ear again until he gave another purr.

Syaoran popped his eyes out in disbelief, "Sakura, is the last of the tribe?" he confirmed, "How can that be?" Yue clasped his arms behind his back and began to tell the story. "They called the tribe who lived here, the 'Divine Tribe'. For centuries and centuries, further settlers from the East came here for Enlightment and haven." Syaoran listened on anxiously. "But for centuries and centuries, Japan started to become feudal, more people gave up on the belief of spirits. Burning countless forests and sacred grounds to where the spirits dwell." Yue took a pause for Syaoran to collect everything. "So for countless generations, 'Spirit Forest' became a new haven for spirits and humans alike. The chief Guardian would be chosen by the people, whose sworn duty was to protect the forest and the spirits from harm." 

Syaoran interrupted his story with a question, "If this is the case, then why are all the people gone from 'Spirit Forest'? Why is Sakura the last member of the 'Divine Tribe'?" Yue painfully closed his eyes and tried to remember, "It was when I was the chosen as moon spirit..."

Nearly 14 years ago…

"Yue!" a man shouted from the distance, hearing the echoes in the air, "YUE!" A man with black short hair was running through the trees and bushes, greeting the many spirits that formed as he ran by. Suddenly, the man stopped in front of another man with white hair and spectacles. "Hey Touya!" he greeted, "What's wrong today?" Touya, the man with black hair, put his hands on the white-haired man's shoulders, "I need you to do me a big favor Yuki!" he said frantically, "I have matters to attend to, can you please watch over Sakura today?" Yuki gave one of his biggest smiles and nodded, "Just go!" he insisted, "I'll be fine." 

Touya thanked Yuki really quick and ran off, "Thanks Yuki!" Yuki gave a slight smile and walked through the forest, looking for Sakura. "Sakura," he called, "Sakura, where are you?" Yuki looked around every bush, he looked behind every tree. He couldn't find Sakura. "Is this what you were looking for?" a humorous voice asked. Yuki turned around and saw a bright yellow lion with wings; he was carrying a baby by grabbing onto its shirt with his sharp teeth. "Oh Kero!" he gasped, "Thanks a lot!" Kero gently set a baby Sakura down on the soft grass. The baby giggled happily as she was placed down. Her auburn short hair streaks covered her cute chubby face. 

"Sakura," he said as he picked her up, "We're going to have fun today won't we?" Sakura happily clapped her hands together while giggling. Her emerald green eyes lightened Yuki's mood as he looked at her. "Kero," Yuki called him over, "I need you to watch Sakura for a while." Kero dropped his face as he heard this. "Weren't you supposed to look after her?" he asked sarcastically. "Yes," he replied, "But I don't feel right about something. Touya went to go check something out. I want to make sure it is nothing." Kero looked back and forth between Yuki and Sakura; he weighed his choices and tried to think of a satisfying answer. "Ah what the heck!" Kero shouted, "Go Yue!" Kero grabbed Sakura with his mouth. "Thank you!"

Touya ran faster as he began to smell a horrible stench in the air. "Oh no!" he worriedly gasped, "It can't be! He wouldn't, he couldn't!" Touya smelled everything he needed to know: gunpowder, fire, smoke. All these pointed to one thing, Touya's worst nightmare. He kept on running until he saw his first sign of destruction, a burning tree, blocking his path to the clearing behind. "Oh no!" he yelled as he saw the carnage. Touya took a deep breath and slowly backed away. Then he charged, ramming into the burning tree, breaking it down like a wall built of splinters. 

Touya looked around, burning bodies, burning trees, dead spirits. Everything in the vicinity was dead, except for one man who crackled like the fire around them. Touya shook his fist, yelling at the insane man. "How could you do this!?" he scolded, "My tribe took you in after you were injured. We fed you, clothed you, and even treated you like family. How could you betray us Uragiri?" The man known as Uragiri picked his head up, the shadows of the fire only reflected the white in his smile and eyes. "Answer me Uragiri! How could you do this to our home?" Uragiri started to step forward to Touya, one step at a time. His receding hairline head was messy. The grease from his head mirrored his sly personality. 

Just as sure when Touya believed Uragiri would give him an explanation, he took out a flag from the back of his pocket. He tied it on a stick and staked it into the ground. The insignia on the flag displayed two Japanese characters on a white flag. "I claim this land for the emperor," he said, "This land shouldn't be in the hands of you usurpers. You take this land and you use it to worships spirits who don't even exist?" "This forest houses the spirits," he snapped, "How dare you say they don't exist?" Uragiri laughed as the fire burned higher, "Savages!" he insulted, "Believing in nothing but your precious spirits. If they are worth so much to you then I will sell this property for a great price."

Touya found no point in arguing with the madman, he wanted one thing and one thing only, revenge! Touya unsheathed his machete, "You make me sick!" he replied. In one huge outburst of rage, Touya held the machete with both his hands above his head and began to charge at Uragiri. "I'll kill you!" he shouted. Yue heard these yells and began to fly even faster as he saw the fire and heard the screaming. "I'm coming Touya!" he reassured flying even faster. Touya kept on rushing forth, his sword ready to slice Uragiri in half. Strangely enough, Uragiri held his position still, reaching something in his back.

Yue burst through the gate of fire and saw Touya charging at Uragiri. It all happened so slow in Yue's eyes. Touya rushed closer and closer to Uragiri. Yue began to suspect that the traitor had something up his sleeve. Suddenly, Uragiri lashed out his dagger from behind his back. "Look out Touya!" Yue warned as Touya rushed blindly in. However, it was too late, once Touya was bringing his machete down; Uragiri had already stabbed him directly in the stomach. Uragiri gave a smirk on his face as Touya whispered his dying words to him, "You won't…get…away…with…this…" Touya's blood filled hand streaked down Uragiri's face, scratching a permanent scar as he was dragged down. 

Yue looked in astonishment, he could not distinguish between reality and dream for a while. While in the daze, Uragiri put his hand over his scarred cheek and smiled as he walked away from Yue, letting the remainder of the forest burn down. Yue wrapped his wings around his body, turning into Yuki in one brilliant flash. "TOUYA!" he yelled, running to Touya's side. Yuki picked Touya up from the ground and placed his head in his lap, "Touya," he cried, "This is not possible, tell me it's not!" Touya's eyes slowly peeked open at the brilliant white light of Yuki. 

"Yuki…" he heavily breathed out, "…I guess you had to see all this destruction happen to your home huh?" Yuki cried, the water droplet tears blurred the vision he saw in his spectacles. "Touya," he cried out, "You are the Guardian. How can you protect us now?" "Wrong," Touya snapped back weakly, "I am no longer the Guardian…From now on; you have to protect my sister and this forest for me." Yuki took off his glasses and wiped his eyes, "I'll always do anything for you Touya…my love." Touya was taken back a bit, "Love?" he confirmed, Yuki nodded, "Yes…I loved you too, Yuki!" Yuki gave a cheerful smile. 

"Please, remember, my sister is in your hands now. Protect our last Guardian from any pain she may endure." "I understand," Yuki nodded, "I will protect her. But why doesn't your spirit still guide us?" Touya gave a slight chuckle to try to cheer Yuki up from his sadness, "Silly spirit," he choked, "I'll always be a spirit even when I'm dead." Slowly but surely, Yuki and Touya looked into each other's tear drown eyes. However, Touya's tears were the first to streak down as he closed them forever. Yuki collapsed on Touya's chest, crying for his painful heart to endure the pain of his lost loved one. "I promise to you Touya! Humans will never get 'Spirit Forest', even if I have to kill every single one of them." 

Yuki wrapped his wings around his body and clenched his fist in the air. "My name is Yue!" he yelled at the sky, "I am the moon spirit of 'Spirit Forest', the protector of Guardian Sakura, I swear by this hand that I will never allow humans into this realm ever again." A sad down pouring of rain begins to douse out the flames of the vicinity. Nothing is saved by this rain. Instead, it erases the flames which show what 'Spirit Forest' has become due to human greed. "I will kill all humans!" Yue rose up, "I swear of that!"

End Flashback

A single tear escapes Yue's eyes. Syaoran relives the painful story in his own mind and is just as sad as Yue is. "So that's why!" Syaoran said finally realizing it, "That's why you hate humans so much." Yue began to walk away from telling the painful story. "Yue," Syaoran stopped Yue in his tracks as he called his name, "I want you to know that I would never hurt Sakura! I know that's on your mind!" Yue turned his head, giving Syaoran one of the most serious stares he's ever given him. "A human, that's what you are," Yue stated, "I expected so much out of humans because the reason why we spirits even exist is because of humans." 

Yue turned around and stood up tall, overshadowing Syaoran, "When I hear of man's petty promises, I always realize how weak humans truly are. Yes, Sakura is human, but she's also a spirit of this forest forever. Your promise means nothing if you can't keep it." Yue gave Syaoran a piercing stare as he further closed in on Syaoran's face, "Only I can protect Sakura, not you! You are nothing but a human who's incapable of protecting what you hold dear." Syaoran felt insulted, and all Yue could do was walk away. 

Syaoran sat on the rock, staring as the sun began to set. He began to feel shame and depression from Yue's words. "I'm not useless," he denied, "I can protect whatever I want." Syaoran bravely stood up and yelled back at Yue deep in the forest, "Listen Yue! I'll show you what I can protect! I'll show you!" Syaoran received no yell response in return. Feeling angry, Syaoran punched the rock he was sitting on and headed for home.

The cabin was quiet, Sakura had just arrived back not too long ago and she was now sipping an herbal tea blend she had prepared before she left. Sakura sipped her hot steaming tea slowly, trying not to scald her tongue. Suddenly, the door burst open, bringing in a gust of evening breeze as the person entered in. "How was the forest today?" she asked Syaoran as he entered in. "Not bad," he replied, "Just a little sadness for me, that's all." Sakura gave a worried face. "Oh my gosh, what happened?" she asked with a tone of concern. "Nothing," Syaoran replied. 

Sakura began to pour another cup of tea for Syaoran. He peeked over her shoulder to see what she was doing. As Sakura felt his soft warm body press against her back, she began to blush a lot. She backed up, although a little too quickly, which resulted in Syaoran getting burned with the hot scalding tea. "OW IT BURNS!!!!!" Syaoran began running around the room, his arms and legs flailing everywhere. "I'm so sorry!" Sakura apologized in panic. She frenetically looked around the room for something cold. In one desperate act, she grabbed a bucket full of water and splashed it all over Syaoran.

Syaoran ridiculously stopped in his tracks, feeling the light cool water douse out his painful hot burning sensation. "Thanks a lot!" he said sarcastically. Sakura could not help it, but she began to giggle and laugh uncontrollably. Syaoran began to blush a little as he knew how ridiculous he looked in wet clothes. "Oh yeah?" Syaoran challenged as he smirked a little. Sakura looked at his face with distrust as she knew what was coming was not good. Syaoran grabbed another bucket of water and splashed it all over Sakura, making them both soaking wet.

Now it was Syaoran's turn to laugh uncontrollably. Sakura pouted a bit and tackled him. Syaoran stumbled back while Sakura clutched onto his chest. He kept on stumbling back until his feet got tangled on the blankets strewn over the floor. Syaoran fell back and hit his head on the back of Sakura's bed, nearly breaking it. Syaoran rubbed his head from the painful hit. "Are you okay?" Sakura asked with a smile as she blushed. "Yeah!" he replied, blushing as well. 

Sakura was on top of Syaoran, she put her arms around the back of his neck, bringing their faces closer together. "Is this what humans call fun?" she asked with curiousness in her eyes. Syaoran gave a slight nod as he began to blush even more, feeling Sakura's figure on top of him. "Sakura," he called to get her full undivided attention, "You know I will always protect you right?" Sakura gave a big flushed face, "Yes," she replied, "But Syaoran, I want to protect you too!" Syaoran gave her a confused face. "You've been through so much Syaoran. You've been hurt time and again. You've been lost; I never want to see you sad ever again!"

Syaoran felt honored, his heart crushed into a million pieces at these words. "I'm not lost," he replied, "I've found you. I've found somebody who has made me again. With you, I don't have to find my way. Cause you make my way!" Sakura felt so happy, she was beginning to get all sweaty regardless of the cool water still saturated on her body. She happily engaged in a passionate kiss with him. Syaoran felt her soft lips against his lips. The tension melted away, the anguish, the sorry, the pain, everything Syaoran ever endured erased away by a mere kiss Sakura gave him. 

"Syaoran," Sakura broke the kiss for a brief moment, "I'll make you happy! So happy, that pain won't even matter anymore." Sakura began to cry. However, whereas somebody cries for happiness or sadness, Sakura cries for her guilty conscience. She proceeds to remove Syaoran's clothes until he is shirtless. Syaoran returns the favor by slowly slipping Sakura's vest off her softly shaped body, and slowly slipping off her belly shirt until she is also naked. Syaoran and Sakura once again engaged in a huge passionate kiss. An open window lightly brings a breeze that blows out the candle to the room. Sakura finally is satisfied about something that's always bothered her. "So this is what love is…"


End file.
